Seventeen Months Later: The Last Straw
Title: Seventeen Months Later: The Last Straw
Author: kanedax
Spoilers: Deathly Hallows
Rating: R for language and suggested nudity
Characters/Pairings: Harry/Ginny, Ron/Hermione, Neville, Luna, Dean, Seamus
Summary: Outside of Cusco, Peru, Hermione confronts Ron, and a decision is made
Notes:
Not every chapter that I’ve written for this story has been posted in every community. Some chapters weren’t gen-fic enough, some weren’t OTP enough, for me to post them in specific communities. Here’s a quick summary of what you may have missed:
Eleven Months Later: Scrubbing Bubbles (H/G, Hard R for nudity and sexual contact)
Sixteen Months Later: Titan Arum (H/G, Hr, N, L, S, too gen to fit into the OTP sites)
If you wish to read all of my work, your best bet would be to either add me to your friends list at
kanedax, or to keep your eye on
hp_fanfiction, which is the only community general enough to accept everything.
This is my last majorly long notes section, since this story’s being posted everywhere. Sorry for the delay.
As for this story, I may have taken some liberties with Incan history in the first few paragraphs. I don’t own any of these characters. They belong to The Rowling.
Sixteen Months Later: Titan Arum / Previous After The Flaw Chapters / Eighteen Months Later: The Incident
From Hermione Granger’s copy of Magical History of Pre-Columbian America, by Bathilda Bagshot (pre-snaked edition):
Very little is known about the early history of the magical settlement in Sacsayhuaman, just outside of Cusco, Peru. Many scholars believe that, like many other Muggle-borns in other parts of the world, that these wizards and witches were born naturally into the community, and were raised as a part of Muggle society. In a world that existed before the International Confederation of Wizards, it is difficult to dispel this common-sense viewpoint.
Others, such as the esteemed historian Pachacuti Sapa, argue that this commune had already been in the area and established well before the Incans took power. His theories state that the Incan Wizards were once a part of the Mesoamerican population that spawned such empires as the Aztecs and Olmecs around 1200 BC. He believes that this group of wizards fled south from what is now known as the North American country of Mexico to the eventual site of Sacsayhuaman after the Aztec mystics began to embrace the Dark Arts, which eventually lead to ritual human sacrifice. The eventual Incan peoples discovered this small settlement, and were so impressed by the skills and powers of the wizards that they settled nearby, calling Qusqu home and creating the empire that we study today.
Despite the debate surrounding their origins, scholars can agree on many other areas of their history. When compared to many other regions of the world during the time of the Incan Empire, it could be argued that wizards and Muggles lived together in a harmony completely foreign to wizards dealing with such irritants as the Spanish Inquisition, the Crusades, and the Mongol invasions. Your average Incan believed that these magical beings held some sort of connection to their deities. But, with the exception of being the source of occasional (and incorrect) Oracle-like advice, they were treated just as well or just as badly as any non-magical human. Many wizards and witches rose to priesthood or governorship during this period, but always did so standing side-by-side with their Muggle neighbors, and rarely used their powers for personal gain.
This peace, unfortunately, changed drastically during the invasion of Francisco Pizarro in the early 16th century. Faced with the possibility of extinction from a combination of warfare and smallpox, the magical population of Sacsayhuaman met and debated their fate. On one hand, they could protect their Muggle countrymen as well as they could, knowing that the overwhelming disease, combined with the thousands of non-Incan natives that the Spaniards had amassed as warriors, would overtake them eventually.
The only other option, which they reluctantly chose in the end, was isolation over extinction. Within hours, the wizards and witches of Cusco faded into the brickwork of the walled stronghold, using a series of Muggle repelling hexes and Memory Charms to make the conquistadors unaware of their presence.
Much like the Egyptian settlements of the Necropolis, Incan witches and wizards live still today unnoticed amongst the Muggle tourists that flock to the fortifications every day, primarily during the New Years celebration of Inti Raymi. With the exception of a few Muggle-born Spanish wizards who discovered and immigrated to the settlement to avoid harsh reactions by their orthodox culture, Cuscan purebloods still run along a primarily Quechua (native South American) bloodline. As with most other wizarding cultures, half-bloods and Muggle-borns are prevalent, but not looked upon quite as badly as they are in other parts of the world.
“That was amazing!”
Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom looked up from their game of Gobstones as Hermione Granger entered the camp, squealing in a very un-Hermione-ish way. She was flipping madly through her journal (the third that she had filled since the group left from Europe four months ago), reading and re-reading her notes from the day’s travels. Ron Weasley walked beside her, an embarrassed smile on his face.
“See, that’s what I’m talking about,” said Seamus Finnegan to Dean Thomas as they came in behind the couple. “No jungle, no giant Corpse Plants, no lizards with big teeth that want to eat me. Just rocks and tourists and bloody brilliant.”
“I think Colin would be proud of all the pictures that I took,” said Dean, holding up his camera. “You’re going to show me how to develop these to make them move, right?”
“I take it you had a good time, then?” Neville asked.
“It was fantastic!” Hermione yelled. “The history, the ruins, the culture, the… the… oh, I loved it! I could have stayed all night; I didn’t take nearly as many notes as I wanted. Can we go back again tomorrow?”
“Hermione’s a little over-stimulated,” Ron explained to Neville and Luna, who just nodded in amusement.
“We can go back again tomorrow, right?” Hermione repeated in a perky way that no one in the listening area was used to.
“Ummm… maybe for a little bit?” said Ron, sitting down next to Luna as she flicked a gobstone at Neville’s side, missing narrowly. “But we’re Apparating to, um, Arubabamabamba Valley tomorrow afternoon.”
“Urubamba Valley,” corrected Neville, pulling a map from the backpack that lay on the ground beside him. “About seventy kilometers from here. Harry says we don’t have to set camp until tomorrow night, so everyone can see Machu Pichu without having to set a guard.”
“Ooooh, Machu Pichu!” Hermione said, now practically bouncing off the ground on the balls of her feet. “I’m going to need to bring a new notebook…”
“So how were things when we were gone?” Seamus asked as Dean, who sat down on Luna’s other side, whispered instructions in her ear, pointing to a particular gobstone on the ground. Luna’s usually protuberant eyes squinted slightly in concentration, and she nodded.
“Thank you, Dean,” she said, aiming her shot. “Everything was just fine here when you were gone. Neville and I played many rounds. We’re quite evenly matched.”
She flicked her stone across the dirt. It connected with one of Neville’s large stones, which proceeded to shoot green liquid into his face.
“Point,” she said, making a slash mark in the dirt as Neville grumbled, wiping the foul mess from his face.
“Where are the two lovebirds?” asked Seamus, looking around the site. “Abandon their post for a little snog?”
“Harry and Ginny sat with us for a little while,” said Luna. “They’re in the boys’ tent.”
Ron’s head snapped to attention. “How long have they been in there?” he asked, his eyes narrowing as he stared at the larger of the two structures.
“Maybe about a half hour,” shrugged Neville, “An hour, tops.”
“Right,” said Ron, and Neville could see that Hermione’s earlier excitement had cooled quickly as she gave Ron a foreboding look.
“It’s not a big deal, though, seriously,” Neville reassured, seeing Ron’s reaction. “They’re not abandoning their post. They asked our permission before they went in, and we said we’d be fine with just the two of us. I mean, most of the time it’s only been just two of us on guard, right?”
“They deserve some alone time,” said Luna.
Ron didn’t seem to hear either of them. Mumbling something about “getting a book,” he stood up and stomped toward the tent.
“Ron, don’t be mad!” Neville yelled behind him. “They weren’t really abandoning us! If there was trouble we were going to call for them! Ron!”
“Ron!” Hermione yelled, stepping quickly after him as he tore the tent flap open and walked inside.
“Oi!” Hermione heard as she walked in behind him. “Break it up! Big brother coming through!”
“What the hell are you doing?” she heard Ginny scream as her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting inside the magically-enlarged tent. “Don’t you knock?”
“Tough to knock on a tent flap,” said Ron. “I was just coming in to get a book, but I’m glad that I did. Making sure you two keep your trousers on…”
As the picture formed around her, Hermione saw Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley sitting bolt upright in Harry’s bed. Harry was fumbling for his glasses on the nightstand, and Ginny had the sheet pulled up over her chest. From the looks of their arms, Hermione could see that the couple was at least topless, if not completely naked.
“Yeah, right, good excuse,” Ginny snorted. “You. Looking for a book. You knew we were in here, you prat! I heard you talking outside…”
“Of course you did,” snapped Ron. “Amazed you could hear anything through all the moaning…”
“Ron… mate…” Harry said, stumbling out of bed, barely able to stand as he attempted to pull his jeans up over his boxers. “Sorry I didn’t… but… I mean…”
“Ron, what is your fucking problem?” Ginny screamed, and Hermione was amazed at the self-restraint of the four others outside, as she was still the only one standing at the mouth of the tent even though she knew perfectly well that they could hear every word.
“My fucking problem is that I can’t leave you two alone for five minutes without the birth control spells coming out!”
“You asshole!” Ginny howled, and the sight of her grabbing her wand from the nightstand and pointing it at Ron broke Hermione’s paralysis.
“Ginny, don’t!” Hermione screamed, running in between the two of them.
“Oh, please, Hermione, get out of the way,” Ginny said, laughing madly, her other hand still clutching the sheet over her bare chest. “I’ve been wanting to hex this bastard ever since he broke up my birthday present for Harry two years ago, just give me a chance…”
“No…”
“…one little Avis Oppugno, just like you used, I promise I’ll leave him in mostly one piece for you…”
“No!” Hermione repeated. “Ginny, put the wand down! Please!”
Ginny’s eyes narrowed, and Hermione knew that she was going to take a Stunning Spell of her own before her boyfriend got the brunt of his sister’s attack. Then, with a snort of frustration, Ginny lowered her wand and set it on the bed, well within reach if she changed her mind.
“Now get out,” she growled.
“Right. Of course,” Hermione said, her heart rate returning to normal. “Sorry to interrupt.” She turned to Ron. “Come with me.”
“Not until those two are dressed and back outside,” Ron said, crossing his arms defiantly. Hermione could feel her blood boiling at the statement.
“Ron,” she said through clenched teeth. “You. Are. Going. To. Come. With. Me.
“Now.”
“Not until…”
“Now!” And with that, Hermione stormed out of the tent.
“Right,” he said, and then turned back to Harry and Ginny. “I expect you both back outside in five minutes.” He turned on his heel and walked outside, barely noticing the Stunning spell that hit the flap inches from his head.
Ron squinted in the sunlight. He expected Luna, Neville, Dean, and Seamus to be staring at him, sure that they had heard every word. Instead, their attention was drawn to the girl’s tent, where, Ron saw with dread, Hermione was standing, tent flap open, staring at him.
“Inside.”
Ron recognized the look in Hermione’s eyes. It was a look he had grown to fear after eight years of sharing homework assignments with her, one she had given him in those times right before they stopped speaking to each other for months on end.
Knowing that now was not the time to wilt under that gaze, that gaze that could melt a copper kettle, Ron resisted the urge to hang his head, and walked as steadily as he could past the four onlookers, past Hermione, and into her tent.
“Sit,” she said as she followed him in, pointing sharply to her bed. Ron crossed the smaller and less smelly tent, as firmly and angrily as he could muster, sitting down on the bed and crossing his arms in what he genuinely hoped didn’t look like a pout.
Hermione closed the tent flap and wheeled on him. For a second it looked as though she was going to start screaming just like Ginny, but Ron watched her as she closed her eyes, attempting to regain her composure, before she asked,
“What are you doing?”
“Talking to you,” he said.
“That’s not what I meant…”
“Then you’re going to have to enlighten me,” said Ron. “Because right now I don’t think I’m doing anything else but talking to you.”
“Right…” Hermione said quietly, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Fine. If that’s how you’re going to be, then so be it.”
“What way am I being?” asked Ron, exasperated. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Of course you don’t,” said Hermione, fingers still on her nose, her patience waning quickly, “I forgot you have the emotional capacity of a teaspoon.”
Ron felt his face flush at the comment, but decided to let her continue.
“Harry won’t talk to you,” she said, “Because you’re his best friend, and he doesn’t want you to be angry with him. He’s never wanted you to be angry with him. Ginny’s tried talking to you, but you won’t listen to her because, quite frankly, you’ve never listened to Ginny…”
“Of course I…”
“So I guess it comes down to me,” Hermione sighed. “Because you love me and will listen to me and we’ve been angry enough with each other over the years that, hey, what’s one more time?”
“Why would I be angry with you?”
“You’re not the one who’s the angry one, believe me,” said Hermione. “Now shut up.”
Ron was quickly realizing that he had never seen Hermione like this before. She paced back and forth, one hand still pinching her nose, the other one clenching and unclenching at her side. The argument they had in their third year after Ron thought Crookshanks had killed his rat was nothing compared to this. Their screaming match after the Yule Ball was a mere cinder compared to what he felt was coming. He could see that she was trying with all of her will to control herself.
At last, she spoke.
“Do you approve of Harry and Ginny?”
“I… what?” He didn’t know what question to expect from her, but it wasn’t this.
“Harry,” Hermione repeated. “And Ginny. Your best friend and your sister. Dating. Do you approve?”
“I… umm…”
“Because when she was dating Michael Corner, you seemed very disappointed that she didn’t fancy Harry anymore. Has your opinion changed, now that she does fancy him?”
“No!” said Ron. “I mean… it’s not like I actually expected it to happen…”
“So, what?” asked Hermione. “You don’t think they should be together?”
“I didn’t say that…”
“Do you or do you not think that they should be together?”
“Yeah… Yeah, I guess…”
“Then fucking act like it!”
“I do act like it!”
“No, Ron, you don’t,” said Hermione. “You give them the evil eye whenever they’re together. You don’t allow them to have any time alone without barging in. You were five seconds away from ratting them out to Filch the night that they snuck into the prefect's bathroom. You’re giving Harry a fucking complex because he’s afraid to lose you if you even see him holding his girlfriend’s hand. And don’t even get me started on how you’ve treated Ginny…”
“She’s my little sister!”
“She’s eighteen!” Hermione yelled. “As much as it might pain you to realize it, the little eleven year old who got dragged into the Chamber of Secrets is gone! Ginevra Weasley is a woman now. One hell of a woman, after everything she’s been through. She’s an adult in both the wizard world and the Muggle one, and she doesn’t need you to protect her!”
“I promised my Mum I’d look after her,” said Ron.
“And Molly loves Harry,” said Hermione. “Besides, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but even your mother displays more tact, more comfort, around those two than you do.”
“Not so easy to say if Ginny comes home all knocked up…”
Hermione stopped, and the look that she gave Ron would have made him flinch in fear if he wasn’t so busy being angry.
“You don’t mean that,” she said slowly.
“Why not?”
“Because this is Harry and Ginny that we’re talking about,” she said. “You don’t think they’d be that irresponsible?”
“I don’t know,” said Ron. “I don’t think she thinks particularly clearly around him. Harry’s always had this effect on women…”
“What are you talking about?”
“I mean, look at the first time that they kissed, how Harry made her…”
“He’s the one who kissed her, like she’d been wanting him to for years.”
“And in her bedroom, before we went hunting for Horcruxes, he couldn’t keep his hands off her, even after he broke up with her.”
“She was the one who kissed him, Ron. She had been planning it for weeks, had asked me for advice every night up to his birthday.”
“And what did you tell her?”
“I told her it was a fantastic idea. And besides, you were the one that gave him that dating advice book for his birthday, weren’t you?”
Ron stopped. “How’d you know about that?”
“I packed your things, Ron. You both had a copy. No wonder Harry’s so screwed up, you keep giving him so many mixed signals.”
“Okay, but Harry’s always had this thing,” Ron said, pressing on. “I mean, even when he and Ginny weren’t together, he always had women falling all over him, begging to do whatever he wanted. Cho, and Romilda, and Luna, and you, and the Patil twins…”
“Me?”
“And, God, you should have seen the way Lavender kept looking at him after we broke up, it was sickening.”
“What do you mean, me?”
Ron’s jaw hung open in mid-sentence. He could feel his mind clicking backwards, trying to remember what he had said.
Oh, shit.
“Nothing,” he said quickly. “I didn’t mean that.”
“Yes, you did,” said Hermione. “You think that there was something between me and Harry?”
“No, I didn’t mean…”
“That I was, what did you say? ‘Falling all over him, begging to do whatever he wanted’?”
“The Horcrux had an effect on me, I guess…”
“What do the Horcruxes have to do with any of this? What Horcrux?”
“Oh, God, someone just cut my foot off and shove it in my mouth…” Ron said, his head falling into his hands.
“What about the Horcruxes?”
“It’s nothing,” Ron insisted. “Nothing happened, I swear.”
“Ron, something happened that night that you destroyed the locket,” said Hermione. “I know it did. You and Harry both acted really strangely when you were telling me about it. Like you were leaving something out.”
“It was nothing…”
“Ron,” Hermione said, more quietly this time, and Ron looked up to see that she had gone from raging fury to kneeling calmly in front of him. “Don’t hide anything from me. Please.”
Ron looked into her eyes, could see that tears had begun to form around the corners, that she was almost pleading for the answer. This is the important question, he thought for some reason. We’re teetering, and she’s hinging everything on this answer.
If I tell her what I saw, it will end us. I know it.
“The Horcrux…” Ron said, swallowing. “It… it told me not to destroy it. It showed me what would happen if it died. I saw you dead. And Harry. And Ginny. But I knew that it was lying. So I killed it.”
Hermione looked into his eyes, and he tried his best to look back. I can’t tell you the truth, he thought. She nodded. Sniffed. Wiped the back of her hand across her eyes. And stood up.
And Ron knew that he had made the wrong choice.
“I love you,” she said, not able to look at him. “I fell in love with you for being the man that you are. But I don’t know if that’s the man I can spend the rest of my life with.”
“Hermione…” Ron said, standing up.
“I love Harry,” she continued, taking a step away. “And I love Ginny. They are my two greatest friends, and I want to see them happy. I want to see them get married and have two point three bouncing babies with messy red hair and no scars on their foreheads. But they make your life miserable, and you make their life miserable. So you make me miserable. And I can’t have misery in my life, not after everything that’s happened, after everyone who’s died trying to make the world a better place. They deserve better. I deserve better. We all deserve better.”
“Are you…?” Ron couldn’t go on. The words refused to come.
“I don’t know,” said Hermione, her voice choking. “I think I am. I can’t believe that I am, but I am. We can’t do this, Ronald. I can’t be with you unless you decide to make some important choices. Until you decide you’re ready to start growing up.”
“No,” Ron pleaded. “Hermione, please…”
“Do what you need to do,” she said, her back to him, her hand on the tent door. “Talk to who you need to talk to. Have whatever epiphanies you need to have, mend whatever bridges you need to mend. And mean it. When you’re ready, then we’ll talk. But I don’t know how long I can wait.”
“I’m ready now,” said Ron, hoping that he could say whatever needed to be said.
Hermione Granger turned back to him. “See?” she said. “You’re still lying.” And she walked out of the tent, passing Harry and Ginny, passing Neville, and Luna, and Dean, and Seamus. She walked until she knew she was far enough away where they couldn’t hear her collapse to the forest floor, curling into herself as her stomach clenched. As she cried her heart out, wondering which choice was the wrong choice. Was it when she had dropped the basilisk fangs, kissing him in front of the Room of Requirement? Or was it when she had turned away from him, leaving him alone in the tent?
And still Ron Weasley stood, tears rolling down his cheeks, wondering what would happen next.
Sixteen Months Later: Titan Arum / Previous After The Flaw Chapters / Eighteen Months Later: The Incident