FIC: "Meant To Be" for anguis_1
Recipient: anguis_1
Author/Artist: meri_oddities
Title: Meant To Be
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Millicent/Ron
Word Count: +/- 4100
Warnings/Content Information (Highlight to View): *None*.
Summary: Millie hasn't forgotten the past.
Note 1: The first few paragraphs have dialogue directly from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, chapter thirty-six, The Battle of Hogwarts.
Note 2: Many thanks to my betas, leela_cat and bethbethbeth.
Millie Bulstrode sat with the rest of her housemates in the Great Hall, waiting for something to happen. She'd heard that Ron, Granger, and Potter were about somewhere. She'd hoped to see Ron, to tell him that she and some of the other Slytherin sixth and seventh years stood with Potter.
And no, it wasn't just that she'd been involved with Ron since sixth year. She knew that the Dark...Voldemort -- she needed to be able to say it, even if it were just in her own mind -- was an abomination and she wasn't going to support him, no matter what the rest of her house did. Though, to be fair, many of her housemates were pretty neutral, not taking sides until the conflict was finished.
Ron. She could not believe she'd fallen for that bloody Gryffindor. Even though he'd wanted to keep it a big secret, he'd seemed to like the idea of dating her. Maybe sleeping together had been a factor in that. Still, she was pretty sure he liked her.
At Christmas this past year, she'd seen him briefly, when he'd left Potter and Granger for a bit. But it hadn't been long before he'd abandoned her to rejoin them. He hadn't said much to her about what they were doing, and certainly not where they were. She hadn't asked either. Better not to know.
It had been nice to see him. And now at least, she could understand why he was insisting on secrecy. And it hadn't been different in sixth year, either, though that was for a different reason.
Voldemort's voice rang through the school demanding that Potter be turned over to him. Bloody Hell. This wasn't good at all.
Then, Potter came into the Hall.
And Parkinson raised her arm, pointing at Potter and screamed, "But he's there! Potter's there. Someone grab him!"
It looked like half the hall got up and stood in front of Potter, glaring at Parkinson. Millie shook her head. Did she really think that anyone would give Potter up? He was their one chance of surviving this mess.
As if she agreed, McGonagall glared. "Thank you, Miss Parkinson," said McGonagall in a clipped voice. "You will leave the Hall first with Mr. Filch. If the rest of your House could follow."
Slytherin drew a collective breath. Anger burned through Millie. They'd all just been dismissed like so much garbage. And while Parkinson might be, the rest of them didn't deserve to be tarred along with her.
But there was no arguing that now. Silently, she followed the rest of her house out of the Great Hall and into the passage that emerged into Aberforth Dumbledore's bar.
As they all started towards the door, Millie stopped. "No. I'm not going home. We have a battle to fight."
Several of the sixth and seventh years turned to look at her. "But we need to make sure that the younger ones get home," Astoria Greenglass said.
"We do. But that doesn't mean we can't go back and make a stand. I don't know about any of you, but I'm not going to let that..." Millie took a breath. "Gryffindor make us all out to be villains in this scenario."
"And who are you going to make that stand for, Bulstrode?" Parkinson asked. Her tone was as nasty as Millie had ever heard it.
Millie straightened her shoulders. "I'm going to stand with Potter --"
"You blood traitor," Parkinson hissed, pulling her wand. "I should hex you where you stand."
Several others moved behind Parkinson: Nott, the younger Crabbe, a couple of other sixth years that Millie didn't know very well.
But surprisingly, more of her house moved to side with her, including Blaise, Daphne, Astoria, and the younger two Goyles.
"I want all of you out of my bar right now," Aberforth shouted, cutting through the tension.
Parkinson and her lot Disapparated as soon as they got outside, leaving all the younger children.
"Astoria, you and the rest of the fifth years see that the younger ones get to the train station, okay," Millie said. "Seriously, we need to make sure that no one gets lost or hurt."
Astoria looked like she might argue, but thought better of it. "All right."
***
The fighting hadn't started yet when her group of sixth and seventh year Slytherins made it back to the castle, but Millie knew it wasn't far off. As soon as they got near the Great Hall, she saw Ron and Granger hurrying towards it as well.
Granger stopped when she saw them and drew her wand. "What are you doing back here?"
That bossy tone grated on every one of Millie's nerves. "We've come back to stand with Potter against the Dark Lord." The Slytherins around her all nodded.
"Why should we believe you?" Granger asked, still clutching her wand and looking like she was an instant away from trying to hex them all.
Millie met her eyes. "There's no reason for any of us to come back but to fight."
"You could be fighting for him"
"We've risked a lot to come back, Granger," Blaise said. "You should accept our help."
Ron hadn't pulled his wand, but he hadn't looked at her either.
"Despite what you think, being Slytherin doesn't automatically mean we follow him. I told R...Weasley two years ago that I'd never follow that mad-man. Didn't I?"
Everyone turned to look at Ron, and he had the grace to blush. Clearly, he wasn't going to acknowledge in what context she'd said it, but if he denied that she had, she'd hex him for the coward that he was. "She did say that," Ron finally said. "More than once. And that some of her housemates agreed with her."
"Well that's big of you, Weasley," Millie said, her heart pounding. And maybe it hurt a bit, but there were bigger issues here.
The look on Granger's face was priceless. She nodded. "All right. Thank you for coming back. We need all the help we can get."
Millie hadn't expected thanks, and clearly neither had the rest of them. But she inclined her head. "We haven't won yet."
"We will," Granger said with the surety that only a Gryffindor could have.
***
12 years later
As Millie was getting ready to go to lunch, she opened her office door to find Ron Weasley standing beside her receptionist's desk. In his gloved hands was a medium-sized box out in front of him.
"Weasley?" She said.
"I know I don't have an appointment, but we, the MLE, need your help with this." He nodded towards the box.
This wasn't the first time they'd come to her with a problem. And she was well aware that they were testing various curse breakers for their contracts. Working for the MLE would be steady income. Not that she didn't have that already, but it never hurt to have more.
"We're not sure what's in the box, but we've been chasing down evidence of a new Dark Lord trying to rise," Ron continued. "This was left behind on a raid."
She smiled at that. "And I suppose you want me to open that."
"Well, you're one of the best curse-breakers in Britain. Bill said that if anyone could open it, you could," Ron said in a tone that might have been impressed were it anyone but her.
"I would have thought you'd give it to him," she said, waving him inside the office.
Despite her odd friendship with Hermione, and her internship with Bill Weasley, she hadn't seen much of Ron over the years.
Damn, and did he still have to be so damned good-looking? She'd kept hoping that the next time she'd see him, he'd be older or uglier, but no. He just kept getting better looking. Over the years, Ron's hair had darkened to rich red gold. In school, he'd been tall and thin, but as he'd gotten older, he'd added muscle and bulk to his frame. His shoulders were ridiculously wide.
Not that she was about to let herself be distracted by him, of course. "Put the box on the table."
The spell dampening cloth on the table wouldn't help with the curse, but it would make sure nothing else got caught up in it while she worked.
Ron put down the box where she'd said and stepped back. "Think you can break the curse?"
"Of course I can." There weren't that many curses that she couldn't break. It was all a matter of figuring out the puzzle. That just took some time and patience.
"Sit down," she said, waving at the sofa. "This is going to take me a bit of time."
He looked dubious, but sat.
She stood in front of the box and waved her wand. Not at it, of course, but above the box to see what it was radiating. Surprisingly, it wasn't as menacing as she thought it might be. Clearly it was defensive and dark, but not so much that the spell itself was evil.
Another spell showed the complexity of the curse, lines of different colors, dark red, bright red, yellow, green and brown, all woven together to form a black center.
With a deep sigh, she stood up. "It looks like a blood curse to me."
"Seriously? I mean, those are the hardest to make and to crack."
Millie rolled her eyes and cast a magnification spell on the image above the box. "They really are. Just look at all those dark red lines running into it."
"Wow. Yeah. I do see it."
She refrained from saying that it was hard to miss. "You should go back to your office, and I'll call you when I've got it unraveled."
Ron shook his head. "I'm supposed to wait for it."
"It seems like a waste of your Deputy Head Auror's precious time to sit around my office until I'm done."
"We can't leave the box or its contents unattended. There's too much risk."
She supposed that was fair enough. "Make yourself some tea." She waved a hand in the direction of the small kitchen. "But don't say a word to me while I work. It could kill us both."
Most people she wouldn't let stay, but Ron was an Auror and she'd also heard that he had some experience with cursed and Dark objects.
After he'd fixed himself some tea and retreated to the sofa, Millie sat down at the table and started to pull the lines of the spell apart. Oddly enough, it wasn't as bad as she'd feared it might be. She could get rid of the lighter lines easily and then work steadily towards the dark red lines. Those would be the most tricky.
When all of the lighter lines had been pulled out and the spell had settled again around the dark lines, she started all over again, pulling each dark line out until the spell unraveled around the curse. And then all she had to do was dismiss the curse and she was done.
She opened the box and there was a book inside. It looked like a blank diary. But of course, no Wizard of any worth kept a diary without an invisible ink spell.
Ron was asleep on the sofa, snoring softly. The room was lit with candles and it was dark out. She'd been so lost in the spell that she hadn't noticed the passing of time. It wasn't the first time she'd lost track of time while she worked.
She looked at Ron again. No, she totally was not charmed by the way his over-long hair was in his eyes or the soft look of his slightly open mouth.
"Weasley!" she said. "Come on, wake up."
He sputtered into consciousness. "What?"
"Done." She held up the book and then deposited back in the box. "It's a journal of some sort. I'll leave it to you to figure out what it actually says. I'd keep it in the box, which I put a dampening spell on, until you get it back to your office."
"Brilliant," Ron stood. "Thanks."
"I'll send my bill to the MLE." And it would not be cheap.
Another moment passed, and Millie waited for him to go. She really, really wanted him to go. He reminded her of things that were better forgotten. But stubbornly, he didn't.
"Was there something else, Weasley?"
He stood up a little straighter and cleared his throat. "Yeah. I was wondering, if, you know, you'd want to go out to dinner with me? Maybe even tonight?"
What? Of all the things that he could have said, that wasn't even on the list of possibilities. "You're joking," she choked out.
"Um...no. Not at all."
She folded her arms over her chest. There was a part of her that had been waiting for an invitation to dinner from him for years, but she just couldn't quite believe it. "Why would you think that I'd want to do that?"
"I had no idea if you would. I just thought I might ask and see." There wasn't anything that didn't seem casual in his face or his stance or anything else.
And she didn't buy that for a second. She might not have talked to him for years, but there was no way that he'd changed that much. "Oh, I get it. You're looking to get laid and don't want to put any emotions into it? Figure you'd hit old Millie up for it for old times sake. Good enough to fuck, but --"
"What the hell are you even talking about?" Ron's face was red. "I know that I didn't handle things well in school. But neither did you. And that was years and years ago."
Millie snorted. "Not handling it well? Is that what you're calling it these days? I think that would be an understatement."
"I can't believe you're still angry about sixth year. I mean, it been ages."
"You treated me like shite. You didn't want to be seen with me. Why wouldn't I still be angry about it?"
"As I remember it, neither one of us wanted to be seen with the other." Ron huffed. "It's not like you were announcing we were dating, either."
She opened her mouth and then closed it. What utter gall. "Get out. Now. I don't want you here."
"No. Wait. I never thought you wanted more."
"Would it have mattered if I did? I'm hardly your type. Not the right house. Not pretty enough. Not skinny enough."
"I didn't really think that much about that!" And his face went red again.
And for the life of her, she had no idea what he was talking about. "Just what did you think about?"
"What do you and Lavender Brown have in common?"
"Absolutely nothing."
He made a motion with his hands over his chest. Oh sweet Merlin. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It was so teenaged boy. "And Hermione is hardly in that league."
"And we're not married anymore," Ron pointed out.
"Because she's flat chested?" Millie couldn't believe he would be so shallow.
Surprisingly, Ron's laugh wasn't nearly as bitter as she might have expected. "No. That didn't matter. I mean, I was sixteen, then. Give me a break."
"Why aren't you still married, then?" She'd had this discussion with Hermione, but she wondered what he'd say.
"She and I didn't compromise well. What you could put up with from a friend, you might not like so well from a lover. And we were so much better as friends. But we got Rose out of the deal, so I can't say it was all bad."
She wasn't sure what she'd expected him to say, maybe she thought he'd be angrier, but clearly, he wasn't. "Okay. Fine. It doesn't change what happened."
"No. I'm sorry. I never thought you'd want to see me publicly during school. Our houses were pitted against each other."
"I'm surprised you recognized that," Millie said.
"It would be hard to miss. I saw how many Slytherins came back to fight that night. I never thought you were one of Voldemort's followers."
"Big of you," she said. "But --"
"Why bring up the past? We could start new. I promise to take you to the hottest restaurant in town."
She needed to think. And she'd never been able to do it well when she was looking at him. "Why," she asked.
Ron laughed again, and his eyes lit up. "I like the way you look."
At this point, she almost said something disparaging about her looks, but she'd learned over the years not to do it. "Fine. I'm glad you do. But --"
"Don't say no, Millie. I can see you want to go. Why don't we just call it dinner as friends?"
"Didn't we try that the last time?" As she remembered it, they weren't really even friends.
His eyes darkened a little. "No. I don't want to do anything like last time. I've thought about you since then, and always regretted what happened after."
She didn't. "Potter stood up for those of us who came back to fight with him. It got me the curse-breaking apprenticeship with your brother."
"That's not what I meant. I always wished I'd said something that night. To let Hermione know that I'd been with you. You shouldn't have had to prompt me to vouch for you."
"Well, that was true. We were prepared for you to throw us out or give us up to Voldemort."
He sighed. "We wouldn't have done that."
"Does Hermione know now?" She snorted. There was no way. "Stupid question. You were embarrassed by it. Sleeping with the enemy."
"I told her," Ron said.
"When?"
"After we were married. We were talking about school, and Hermione brought up Lavender again. I've never understood what her objection to Lavender was."
"Won-Won," she mocked.
"She was sixteen, too."
"And she hasn't changed that much. Have you seen the way she talks to Ernie? Ern-Ern?"
"Okay, fine," Ron said, clearly trying not to laugh. "Half my family was there that night. Harry and Ginny were there, too."
"I bet I can guess how that went down." Because she just couldn't believe he'd told anyone about it. Even after the fact. And if he had, it would not have been in a favorable context.
"You'd be wrong. I said I liked you a lot."
"No, you did not."
"You weren't even there."
"I can't believe that."
"Why not? Do you think so little of me that you believe I'd have slept with you without liking you a little?"
She made the same motion with her hands that he had used.
"Which was all well and good, but I'm a Gryffindor, I don't sleep with someone unless I like them?"
"I thought Gryffindors were all about courage?"
"Courage of my convictions maybe? I'm here now, aren't I?"
She supposed that he was. "Did Hermione set you up?"
"No. She doesn't know I was the one who was going to bring the box over. I volunteered. I've been thinking of owling you for a while, but --"
"So, not so courageous?"
"I wanted to talk to you first."
"Let me think about it, okay?" If she got him out of her office, she might be able to think clearly.
Ron smiled at her. "I get the feeling I need to get a commitment out of you right now."
"You don't even know me anymore." She was fast running out of arguments for something she knew she wanted. If it were anyone else, she'd just take what he was offering, but Ron, he was different.
"I want to get to know you." He reached out and put a hand on her arm. "Tonight. I'll pick you up at 7:00." He picked up the box and Disapparated without another word.
Damned Gryffindor.
***
La Madeline was the hottest restaurant on Diagon Alley. And how he got reservations on a moment's notice she had no idea.
"Did I mention you look great?" Ron smiled.
She wasn't going to say that she'd spent an hour trying on everything in her closet to find something that was flattering. It wasn't that she didn't have nice clothes. She did. Her robes were well made and stylish. It had taken her a long time to get to the point where she liked who she was, no matter what anyone else thought.
But seeing Ron's appreciation was gratifying.
"Thanks. What's good?"
"Just about everything. You did know my sister Ginny is the chef here?"
Well, that explained the reservations. "I didn't. I knew she was divorced from Potter, but hadn't heard what she was doing."
"Yeah, Harry bought her this restaurant after the divorce. She said she wasn't going to end up doing all the cooking and not getting paid for it like our mum."
"You sound like you disapprove?" Because that could be a problem.
"Ginny always thought that mum was trapped with so many kids, but I know mum made her own choices. She wanted a huge family." He shook his head. "Do you not want kids?"
"How did you get there?" she asked. "But yes, I'd like to have a few."
"I wouldn't mind a few, either." Ron grinned at her.
"Not seven."
He choked on his beer. "Not even four. Too many and you don't get enough attention when you need it."
She looked at him. "You know only too well?"
"I wasn't thinking of me, so much," Ron said. "But the twins could have used some more supervision."
"I've always wondered why they didn't end up in Slytherin."
Ron laughed. "I've wondered that myself. Though George hasn't been very ambitious in recent years."
"He's still doing very well."
"Yes, but he doesn't enjoy it anymore. I think he should have gone into something else after Fred was killed."
"Maybe it was a tribute to your brother."
"Maybe. I think Fred would have been happier if George was enjoying life more."
The waiter appeared at their table and took their order. The food and wine appeared promptly, and they dug into it.
***
"This was every bit as good as it was rumored to be," Millie said, putting her napkin on the table.
"Wait until you taste dessert."
"Oh Merlin, I'm not sure I could eat anything else."
"You should really try the dessert, Millicent," Ginny said as she came over to their table. "I've hired the best pastry chef in France."
"How are you doing Gin?" Ron stood up and kissed his sister's cheek.
"I'm wicked busy. But Esmeraldas told me you had come in with Millicent, so I thought I'd come say hello." For someone slaving away in the kitchen, she looked very good with all her hair piled on top of her head, and her white cooking robes clean and pressed. "I hope you enjoyed dinner."
"Oh, how could I not. It was fantastic. You're an amazing chef, Ginny," Millie said. "Thank you for a great dinner.
"Thank you. I need to get back. Ron, I'll see you at mum's on Sunday." And she was gone. Ron paid the bill and then they Apparated back to Millie's flat.
"Ginny looked really good," Millie said, leaning on the door jamb. "Her place is certainly a success."
"She's a lot happier, now. Harry is too." He looked down.
"All of you ended up some place different from where everyone thought you would --" She cut herself off. "Sorry, none of my business."
"We all got married too young and thought that what we wanted when we were seventeen was what we'd always want."
"I guess it doesn't always turn out the way you think it will." Though she still wanted what she'd wanted when she'd been sixteen. But then, she hadn't gotten it.
"No. Look at Harry. Who would have guessed he'd prefer blokes. And Hermione dating Draco Malfoy? And Ginny running the best restaurant in Wizarding England."
"And what about you, Ron? Where did you end up?"
"Right here." He stepped a little closer, one of his hands on her arm. "And I'm pretty happy with that. What about you, Millie?"
Did he have to look so damned adorable when he smiled? She let herself be drawn into his arms. "I'm pretty happy to be here, too."
"Good." He leaned down and kissed her. "Very good."
Oh, she loved the feel of strong arms holding her tightly, and that it was Ron made it all the better. His mouth opened, and his tongue traced her lips, asking. She smiled as she opened her mouth and let him in.
He moved even closer, pressing her into the door for a moment, and then he stepped back.
It was very hard not to whine in protest, but she managed. As much as she wanted to, she was not going to ask him in yet. "Mmm. Nice."
His fingers traced her cheek. "Can I see you again? Like tomorrow?"
"Moving kind of quickly, aren't you?"
He kissed her again. "I don't want anyone else to snap you up before I get a chance to make my case."
"I think you've made it very well." And it was one she'd definitely look closely at in the future.
"Tomorrow, then?"
She nodded. "Tomorrow."
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Author/Artist: meri_oddities
Title: Meant To Be
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Millicent/Ron
Word Count: +/- 4100
Warnings/Content Information (Highlight to View): *None*.
Summary: Millie hasn't forgotten the past.
Note 1: The first few paragraphs have dialogue directly from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, chapter thirty-six, The Battle of Hogwarts.
Note 2: Many thanks to my betas, leela_cat and bethbethbeth.
Millie Bulstrode sat with the rest of her housemates in the Great Hall, waiting for something to happen. She'd heard that Ron, Granger, and Potter were about somewhere. She'd hoped to see Ron, to tell him that she and some of the other Slytherin sixth and seventh years stood with Potter.
And no, it wasn't just that she'd been involved with Ron since sixth year. She knew that the Dark...Voldemort -- she needed to be able to say it, even if it were just in her own mind -- was an abomination and she wasn't going to support him, no matter what the rest of her house did. Though, to be fair, many of her housemates were pretty neutral, not taking sides until the conflict was finished.
Ron. She could not believe she'd fallen for that bloody Gryffindor. Even though he'd wanted to keep it a big secret, he'd seemed to like the idea of dating her. Maybe sleeping together had been a factor in that. Still, she was pretty sure he liked her.
At Christmas this past year, she'd seen him briefly, when he'd left Potter and Granger for a bit. But it hadn't been long before he'd abandoned her to rejoin them. He hadn't said much to her about what they were doing, and certainly not where they were. She hadn't asked either. Better not to know.
It had been nice to see him. And now at least, she could understand why he was insisting on secrecy. And it hadn't been different in sixth year, either, though that was for a different reason.
Voldemort's voice rang through the school demanding that Potter be turned over to him. Bloody Hell. This wasn't good at all.
Then, Potter came into the Hall.
And Parkinson raised her arm, pointing at Potter and screamed, "But he's there! Potter's there. Someone grab him!"
It looked like half the hall got up and stood in front of Potter, glaring at Parkinson. Millie shook her head. Did she really think that anyone would give Potter up? He was their one chance of surviving this mess.
As if she agreed, McGonagall glared. "Thank you, Miss Parkinson," said McGonagall in a clipped voice. "You will leave the Hall first with Mr. Filch. If the rest of your House could follow."
Slytherin drew a collective breath. Anger burned through Millie. They'd all just been dismissed like so much garbage. And while Parkinson might be, the rest of them didn't deserve to be tarred along with her.
But there was no arguing that now. Silently, she followed the rest of her house out of the Great Hall and into the passage that emerged into Aberforth Dumbledore's bar.
As they all started towards the door, Millie stopped. "No. I'm not going home. We have a battle to fight."
Several of the sixth and seventh years turned to look at her. "But we need to make sure that the younger ones get home," Astoria Greenglass said.
"We do. But that doesn't mean we can't go back and make a stand. I don't know about any of you, but I'm not going to let that..." Millie took a breath. "Gryffindor make us all out to be villains in this scenario."
"And who are you going to make that stand for, Bulstrode?" Parkinson asked. Her tone was as nasty as Millie had ever heard it.
Millie straightened her shoulders. "I'm going to stand with Potter --"
"You blood traitor," Parkinson hissed, pulling her wand. "I should hex you where you stand."
Several others moved behind Parkinson: Nott, the younger Crabbe, a couple of other sixth years that Millie didn't know very well.
But surprisingly, more of her house moved to side with her, including Blaise, Daphne, Astoria, and the younger two Goyles.
"I want all of you out of my bar right now," Aberforth shouted, cutting through the tension.
Parkinson and her lot Disapparated as soon as they got outside, leaving all the younger children.
"Astoria, you and the rest of the fifth years see that the younger ones get to the train station, okay," Millie said. "Seriously, we need to make sure that no one gets lost or hurt."
Astoria looked like she might argue, but thought better of it. "All right."
***
The fighting hadn't started yet when her group of sixth and seventh year Slytherins made it back to the castle, but Millie knew it wasn't far off. As soon as they got near the Great Hall, she saw Ron and Granger hurrying towards it as well.
Granger stopped when she saw them and drew her wand. "What are you doing back here?"
That bossy tone grated on every one of Millie's nerves. "We've come back to stand with Potter against the Dark Lord." The Slytherins around her all nodded.
"Why should we believe you?" Granger asked, still clutching her wand and looking like she was an instant away from trying to hex them all.
Millie met her eyes. "There's no reason for any of us to come back but to fight."
"You could be fighting for him"
"We've risked a lot to come back, Granger," Blaise said. "You should accept our help."
Ron hadn't pulled his wand, but he hadn't looked at her either.
"Despite what you think, being Slytherin doesn't automatically mean we follow him. I told R...Weasley two years ago that I'd never follow that mad-man. Didn't I?"
Everyone turned to look at Ron, and he had the grace to blush. Clearly, he wasn't going to acknowledge in what context she'd said it, but if he denied that she had, she'd hex him for the coward that he was. "She did say that," Ron finally said. "More than once. And that some of her housemates agreed with her."
"Well that's big of you, Weasley," Millie said, her heart pounding. And maybe it hurt a bit, but there were bigger issues here.
The look on Granger's face was priceless. She nodded. "All right. Thank you for coming back. We need all the help we can get."
Millie hadn't expected thanks, and clearly neither had the rest of them. But she inclined her head. "We haven't won yet."
"We will," Granger said with the surety that only a Gryffindor could have.
***
12 years later
As Millie was getting ready to go to lunch, she opened her office door to find Ron Weasley standing beside her receptionist's desk. In his gloved hands was a medium-sized box out in front of him.
"Weasley?" She said.
"I know I don't have an appointment, but we, the MLE, need your help with this." He nodded towards the box.
This wasn't the first time they'd come to her with a problem. And she was well aware that they were testing various curse breakers for their contracts. Working for the MLE would be steady income. Not that she didn't have that already, but it never hurt to have more.
"We're not sure what's in the box, but we've been chasing down evidence of a new Dark Lord trying to rise," Ron continued. "This was left behind on a raid."
She smiled at that. "And I suppose you want me to open that."
"Well, you're one of the best curse-breakers in Britain. Bill said that if anyone could open it, you could," Ron said in a tone that might have been impressed were it anyone but her.
"I would have thought you'd give it to him," she said, waving him inside the office.
Despite her odd friendship with Hermione, and her internship with Bill Weasley, she hadn't seen much of Ron over the years.
Damn, and did he still have to be so damned good-looking? She'd kept hoping that the next time she'd see him, he'd be older or uglier, but no. He just kept getting better looking. Over the years, Ron's hair had darkened to rich red gold. In school, he'd been tall and thin, but as he'd gotten older, he'd added muscle and bulk to his frame. His shoulders were ridiculously wide.
Not that she was about to let herself be distracted by him, of course. "Put the box on the table."
The spell dampening cloth on the table wouldn't help with the curse, but it would make sure nothing else got caught up in it while she worked.
Ron put down the box where she'd said and stepped back. "Think you can break the curse?"
"Of course I can." There weren't that many curses that she couldn't break. It was all a matter of figuring out the puzzle. That just took some time and patience.
"Sit down," she said, waving at the sofa. "This is going to take me a bit of time."
He looked dubious, but sat.
She stood in front of the box and waved her wand. Not at it, of course, but above the box to see what it was radiating. Surprisingly, it wasn't as menacing as she thought it might be. Clearly it was defensive and dark, but not so much that the spell itself was evil.
Another spell showed the complexity of the curse, lines of different colors, dark red, bright red, yellow, green and brown, all woven together to form a black center.
With a deep sigh, she stood up. "It looks like a blood curse to me."
"Seriously? I mean, those are the hardest to make and to crack."
Millie rolled her eyes and cast a magnification spell on the image above the box. "They really are. Just look at all those dark red lines running into it."
"Wow. Yeah. I do see it."
She refrained from saying that it was hard to miss. "You should go back to your office, and I'll call you when I've got it unraveled."
Ron shook his head. "I'm supposed to wait for it."
"It seems like a waste of your Deputy Head Auror's precious time to sit around my office until I'm done."
"We can't leave the box or its contents unattended. There's too much risk."
She supposed that was fair enough. "Make yourself some tea." She waved a hand in the direction of the small kitchen. "But don't say a word to me while I work. It could kill us both."
Most people she wouldn't let stay, but Ron was an Auror and she'd also heard that he had some experience with cursed and Dark objects.
After he'd fixed himself some tea and retreated to the sofa, Millie sat down at the table and started to pull the lines of the spell apart. Oddly enough, it wasn't as bad as she'd feared it might be. She could get rid of the lighter lines easily and then work steadily towards the dark red lines. Those would be the most tricky.
When all of the lighter lines had been pulled out and the spell had settled again around the dark lines, she started all over again, pulling each dark line out until the spell unraveled around the curse. And then all she had to do was dismiss the curse and she was done.
She opened the box and there was a book inside. It looked like a blank diary. But of course, no Wizard of any worth kept a diary without an invisible ink spell.
Ron was asleep on the sofa, snoring softly. The room was lit with candles and it was dark out. She'd been so lost in the spell that she hadn't noticed the passing of time. It wasn't the first time she'd lost track of time while she worked.
She looked at Ron again. No, she totally was not charmed by the way his over-long hair was in his eyes or the soft look of his slightly open mouth.
"Weasley!" she said. "Come on, wake up."
He sputtered into consciousness. "What?"
"Done." She held up the book and then deposited back in the box. "It's a journal of some sort. I'll leave it to you to figure out what it actually says. I'd keep it in the box, which I put a dampening spell on, until you get it back to your office."
"Brilliant," Ron stood. "Thanks."
"I'll send my bill to the MLE." And it would not be cheap.
Another moment passed, and Millie waited for him to go. She really, really wanted him to go. He reminded her of things that were better forgotten. But stubbornly, he didn't.
"Was there something else, Weasley?"
He stood up a little straighter and cleared his throat. "Yeah. I was wondering, if, you know, you'd want to go out to dinner with me? Maybe even tonight?"
What? Of all the things that he could have said, that wasn't even on the list of possibilities. "You're joking," she choked out.
"Um...no. Not at all."
She folded her arms over her chest. There was a part of her that had been waiting for an invitation to dinner from him for years, but she just couldn't quite believe it. "Why would you think that I'd want to do that?"
"I had no idea if you would. I just thought I might ask and see." There wasn't anything that didn't seem casual in his face or his stance or anything else.
And she didn't buy that for a second. She might not have talked to him for years, but there was no way that he'd changed that much. "Oh, I get it. You're looking to get laid and don't want to put any emotions into it? Figure you'd hit old Millie up for it for old times sake. Good enough to fuck, but --"
"What the hell are you even talking about?" Ron's face was red. "I know that I didn't handle things well in school. But neither did you. And that was years and years ago."
Millie snorted. "Not handling it well? Is that what you're calling it these days? I think that would be an understatement."
"I can't believe you're still angry about sixth year. I mean, it been ages."
"You treated me like shite. You didn't want to be seen with me. Why wouldn't I still be angry about it?"
"As I remember it, neither one of us wanted to be seen with the other." Ron huffed. "It's not like you were announcing we were dating, either."
She opened her mouth and then closed it. What utter gall. "Get out. Now. I don't want you here."
"No. Wait. I never thought you wanted more."
"Would it have mattered if I did? I'm hardly your type. Not the right house. Not pretty enough. Not skinny enough."
"I didn't really think that much about that!" And his face went red again.
And for the life of her, she had no idea what he was talking about. "Just what did you think about?"
"What do you and Lavender Brown have in common?"
"Absolutely nothing."
He made a motion with his hands over his chest. Oh sweet Merlin. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It was so teenaged boy. "And Hermione is hardly in that league."
"And we're not married anymore," Ron pointed out.
"Because she's flat chested?" Millie couldn't believe he would be so shallow.
Surprisingly, Ron's laugh wasn't nearly as bitter as she might have expected. "No. That didn't matter. I mean, I was sixteen, then. Give me a break."
"Why aren't you still married, then?" She'd had this discussion with Hermione, but she wondered what he'd say.
"She and I didn't compromise well. What you could put up with from a friend, you might not like so well from a lover. And we were so much better as friends. But we got Rose out of the deal, so I can't say it was all bad."
She wasn't sure what she'd expected him to say, maybe she thought he'd be angrier, but clearly, he wasn't. "Okay. Fine. It doesn't change what happened."
"No. I'm sorry. I never thought you'd want to see me publicly during school. Our houses were pitted against each other."
"I'm surprised you recognized that," Millie said.
"It would be hard to miss. I saw how many Slytherins came back to fight that night. I never thought you were one of Voldemort's followers."
"Big of you," she said. "But --"
"Why bring up the past? We could start new. I promise to take you to the hottest restaurant in town."
She needed to think. And she'd never been able to do it well when she was looking at him. "Why," she asked.
Ron laughed again, and his eyes lit up. "I like the way you look."
At this point, she almost said something disparaging about her looks, but she'd learned over the years not to do it. "Fine. I'm glad you do. But --"
"Don't say no, Millie. I can see you want to go. Why don't we just call it dinner as friends?"
"Didn't we try that the last time?" As she remembered it, they weren't really even friends.
His eyes darkened a little. "No. I don't want to do anything like last time. I've thought about you since then, and always regretted what happened after."
She didn't. "Potter stood up for those of us who came back to fight with him. It got me the curse-breaking apprenticeship with your brother."
"That's not what I meant. I always wished I'd said something that night. To let Hermione know that I'd been with you. You shouldn't have had to prompt me to vouch for you."
"Well, that was true. We were prepared for you to throw us out or give us up to Voldemort."
He sighed. "We wouldn't have done that."
"Does Hermione know now?" She snorted. There was no way. "Stupid question. You were embarrassed by it. Sleeping with the enemy."
"I told her," Ron said.
"When?"
"After we were married. We were talking about school, and Hermione brought up Lavender again. I've never understood what her objection to Lavender was."
"Won-Won," she mocked.
"She was sixteen, too."
"And she hasn't changed that much. Have you seen the way she talks to Ernie? Ern-Ern?"
"Okay, fine," Ron said, clearly trying not to laugh. "Half my family was there that night. Harry and Ginny were there, too."
"I bet I can guess how that went down." Because she just couldn't believe he'd told anyone about it. Even after the fact. And if he had, it would not have been in a favorable context.
"You'd be wrong. I said I liked you a lot."
"No, you did not."
"You weren't even there."
"I can't believe that."
"Why not? Do you think so little of me that you believe I'd have slept with you without liking you a little?"
She made the same motion with her hands that he had used.
"Which was all well and good, but I'm a Gryffindor, I don't sleep with someone unless I like them?"
"I thought Gryffindors were all about courage?"
"Courage of my convictions maybe? I'm here now, aren't I?"
She supposed that he was. "Did Hermione set you up?"
"No. She doesn't know I was the one who was going to bring the box over. I volunteered. I've been thinking of owling you for a while, but --"
"So, not so courageous?"
"I wanted to talk to you first."
"Let me think about it, okay?" If she got him out of her office, she might be able to think clearly.
Ron smiled at her. "I get the feeling I need to get a commitment out of you right now."
"You don't even know me anymore." She was fast running out of arguments for something she knew she wanted. If it were anyone else, she'd just take what he was offering, but Ron, he was different.
"I want to get to know you." He reached out and put a hand on her arm. "Tonight. I'll pick you up at 7:00." He picked up the box and Disapparated without another word.
Damned Gryffindor.
***
La Madeline was the hottest restaurant on Diagon Alley. And how he got reservations on a moment's notice she had no idea.
"Did I mention you look great?" Ron smiled.
She wasn't going to say that she'd spent an hour trying on everything in her closet to find something that was flattering. It wasn't that she didn't have nice clothes. She did. Her robes were well made and stylish. It had taken her a long time to get to the point where she liked who she was, no matter what anyone else thought.
But seeing Ron's appreciation was gratifying.
"Thanks. What's good?"
"Just about everything. You did know my sister Ginny is the chef here?"
Well, that explained the reservations. "I didn't. I knew she was divorced from Potter, but hadn't heard what she was doing."
"Yeah, Harry bought her this restaurant after the divorce. She said she wasn't going to end up doing all the cooking and not getting paid for it like our mum."
"You sound like you disapprove?" Because that could be a problem.
"Ginny always thought that mum was trapped with so many kids, but I know mum made her own choices. She wanted a huge family." He shook his head. "Do you not want kids?"
"How did you get there?" she asked. "But yes, I'd like to have a few."
"I wouldn't mind a few, either." Ron grinned at her.
"Not seven."
He choked on his beer. "Not even four. Too many and you don't get enough attention when you need it."
She looked at him. "You know only too well?"
"I wasn't thinking of me, so much," Ron said. "But the twins could have used some more supervision."
"I've always wondered why they didn't end up in Slytherin."
Ron laughed. "I've wondered that myself. Though George hasn't been very ambitious in recent years."
"He's still doing very well."
"Yes, but he doesn't enjoy it anymore. I think he should have gone into something else after Fred was killed."
"Maybe it was a tribute to your brother."
"Maybe. I think Fred would have been happier if George was enjoying life more."
The waiter appeared at their table and took their order. The food and wine appeared promptly, and they dug into it.
***
"This was every bit as good as it was rumored to be," Millie said, putting her napkin on the table.
"Wait until you taste dessert."
"Oh Merlin, I'm not sure I could eat anything else."
"You should really try the dessert, Millicent," Ginny said as she came over to their table. "I've hired the best pastry chef in France."
"How are you doing Gin?" Ron stood up and kissed his sister's cheek.
"I'm wicked busy. But Esmeraldas told me you had come in with Millicent, so I thought I'd come say hello." For someone slaving away in the kitchen, she looked very good with all her hair piled on top of her head, and her white cooking robes clean and pressed. "I hope you enjoyed dinner."
"Oh, how could I not. It was fantastic. You're an amazing chef, Ginny," Millie said. "Thank you for a great dinner.
"Thank you. I need to get back. Ron, I'll see you at mum's on Sunday." And she was gone. Ron paid the bill and then they Apparated back to Millie's flat.
"Ginny looked really good," Millie said, leaning on the door jamb. "Her place is certainly a success."
"She's a lot happier, now. Harry is too." He looked down.
"All of you ended up some place different from where everyone thought you would --" She cut herself off. "Sorry, none of my business."
"We all got married too young and thought that what we wanted when we were seventeen was what we'd always want."
"I guess it doesn't always turn out the way you think it will." Though she still wanted what she'd wanted when she'd been sixteen. But then, she hadn't gotten it.
"No. Look at Harry. Who would have guessed he'd prefer blokes. And Hermione dating Draco Malfoy? And Ginny running the best restaurant in Wizarding England."
"And what about you, Ron? Where did you end up?"
"Right here." He stepped a little closer, one of his hands on her arm. "And I'm pretty happy with that. What about you, Millie?"
Did he have to look so damned adorable when he smiled? She let herself be drawn into his arms. "I'm pretty happy to be here, too."
"Good." He leaned down and kissed her. "Very good."
Oh, she loved the feel of strong arms holding her tightly, and that it was Ron made it all the better. His mouth opened, and his tongue traced her lips, asking. She smiled as she opened her mouth and let him in.
He moved even closer, pressing her into the door for a moment, and then he stepped back.
It was very hard not to whine in protest, but she managed. As much as she wanted to, she was not going to ask him in yet. "Mmm. Nice."
His fingers traced her cheek. "Can I see you again? Like tomorrow?"
"Moving kind of quickly, aren't you?"
He kissed her again. "I don't want anyone else to snap you up before I get a chance to make my case."
"I think you've made it very well." And it was one she'd definitely look closely at in the future.
"Tomorrow, then?"
She nodded. "Tomorrow."
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