A Barwoman's hopes

A BARWOMAN'S HOPES

Ron Weasley's fingers drummed against his desk in the Auror department as he stared at the empty desk opposite him. It was supposed to be sat behind by his best friend, or perhaps ex-best friend now, Harry Potter. But Harry hadn't entered the office since the incident on the ninth of December, exactly ten days ago. Ron didn't understand what he had exactly done wrong, I mean, he knew what he had done wrong; he just didn't think he deserved this kind of feedback. Before Hermione had returned, his life had been running extremely smoothly, Ginny and Harry were even just starting to become friends with Astoria. And then Hermione and Malfoy had to turn up and ruin everything.

And now he was being forced to go to a pre-Christmas dinner with them and the rest of the Weasley family tomorrow.

His face perked up when the door to his office opened, it fell again when he realised it was only Dean Thomas, a fellow Auror.

"Still moping around in here Ron?" he asked as he walked over to Harry's desk. Reaching into one of the drawers and pulling out a stack of papers. Ron glared at Dean before standing up;

"Hey, what do you think you're doing looking through Harry's drawers?"

Dean looked confused "Didn't Kingsley tell you? Harry insisted that we swap offices so he's sharing with Zacharias now and I'm sharing with you. He wanted me to get his stuff for him and move in as soon as possible"

Ron was beside himself in annoyance at Harry "What? But he hates Zacharias?"

"I'm just telling you what he told me to say; he is the Head of the Auror department"

"Yeah, and I'm his deputy" Ron bellowed, sounding completely distraught that Harry had actually chosen to share an office with Zacharias Smith over his best friend. Dean sat down at the desk opposite Ron and twiddled his thumbs, biting his lip nervously. 

"Yeah about that, Harry said that if you can't be honest in your personal life; he has no way of knowing if you can be honest in your job. Your officially just an Auror now mate"

If Ron was angry before, he was completely livid now.

"And I bet that Zacharias Smith is his new deputy" Ron asked, trying to be calm but his voice was cracking considerably. Dean just nodded before standing up and picking up the stack of paper he had to give Harry. He said goodbye to Ron before leaving the room, closing the office door behind him.

Ron was going to destroy the Malfoy family now.

They seemed to think that they could waltz in with their stacks of money, offer Ginny a job, become all matey with the Potter's, tell everyone about Ron's secret, and then turn all Ron's friends and family against him.

He was awoken from his thoughts by the door opening. He didn't look up until the person gave a patronizing 'humph'. He then lifted his head to see the jet black hair of his old friend Harry Potter.

"What do you want?" Ron spat, glaring at Harry with all he had. Harry glared back, his eyes narrowing into slits. 

"You might want to think about how you speak to me Ronald, after all, I am your boss"

Ron scoffed and rolled his eyes "Being around Malfoy has certainly boosted your ego up to the moon, be careful not to break anything when you fall off your high horse" Ron snorted

"Having a big ego is better than being a lying bastard" Harry seethed through gritted teeth. Ron's body shot up at the insult and he marched over to Harry before jabbing him in the stomach with his finger.

"Who do you think you are Potter?" Ron spat, sneering at Harry "Don't you think my life has gone downhill enough without you shoving your fat nose in"

"Yeah, and whose fault is that?" Harry retorted, pushing Ron's finger away "You made your life go downhill so don't go blaming me, Hermione, or Draco; because this isn't our fault. It's yours and that whore you call a wife, Astoria's"

Ron tensed up at the insult directed at his wife "Don't say stuff like that about my wife"

"I'll say what I want Ron, just like you did about Hermione"

Ron gulped, just when he thought he was winning, his ego came back and bit him on the butt.

"This has nothing to do with Hermione, you insulted my wife"

"Because she deserved it, you both do! She cheated on her boyfriend with you and you cheated on your girlfriend with her, and look what happened then. Your past came back to haunt you both, together!" and with that, Harry grabbed his stuff and walked to the door. He turned back around before leaving "Just think about what you have done Ronald, think as something as your fault for a change instead of it being someone else's fault, because guess what Ron; you're not perfect"

And then he left.

A few minutes later, Dean arrived with the rest of his stuff.

"I'm guessing Harry spoke to you" he said as he sat down, noting Ron's tired expression

"I wish that's all he had done" Ron mumbled and Dean pursed his lips before;

"Hey, me and Seamus are meeting up with Neville tonight, since he's coming back for a few days during the holidays to see Hannah, why don't you come along tonight and have a few drinks?" Dean offered, Ron cocked his head to one side, thinking before;

"Sure, why not? I have nothing better to do. Astoria's going to her mother's tonight anyway so why not"

"Cool, we'll go to the Leaky Cauldron straight after work, we'll meet Neville there"

"Okay" Ron said, suddenly feeling slightly better. At least someone wanted to spend time with him; however, they didn't know what he had done to make everyone hate him.

The day went by slowly but finally the work day came to a close. At six o clock Ron sent an owl to Astoria telling her that he was going out with some old school friends, she replied immediately; stating that was fine, so Ron walked out of his office with Dean beside him. They made their way towards the Department of Magical Games and Sports to meet Seamus.

He was not surprised to see Ron there when they arrived

"Oh hey Ron, I thought you might be coming along with us" he said in his joyful Irish accent. Ron smiled at his happy friend, wishing that he was that happy.

"Hey, long time no see"

"I know" he looked around "Is Harry not coming?"

Dean shrugged "I asked him but he only said he might turn up"

"He's probably busy with his new best friend" Ron mumbled but the pair heard him "best friend, I thought you were his best friend?" Seamus asked

"Well, we've had a little fallout"

"But you'll get over it, right?"

"I don't know, it seems pretty serious; and like I said, he has a new best friend now"

"Who?" they asked together and Ron rolled his eyes;

"Draco Malfoy"

The two men looked as if they were about to have a fit, their mouths were hanging open and their eyes were wide. They looked at each other before bursting into laughter. "Yeah right, Harry would never be friends with anyone like Malfoy"

"That's what you think, but ever since Hermione's come back, it's all..."

"HERMIONE'S BACK!"

"Yeah, turns out she never left" Ron grumbled as the trio entered the lift.

"This is fun, I forgot how funny you were Ron" Neville complimented as the four men started their fourth drink. Ron laughed before smacking his cup down. 

"So, children, how are my nephews and nieces doing at school?" Ron asked

"All pretty well, only James and Fred is a spot of bother; they are like the troublesome twosome. They seem to have developed a few enemies"

"Oh really, who?" Ron said, intrigued now

"Evangeline Malfoy and her little crew, they are always arguing about something or other, if you ask me they are just flirting; she is very pretty, a Malfoy through and through"

"Did you just say the Malfoy's were pretty Nev?" Dean teased and Neville blushed

"No, I meant that she was pretty and then that she was like a Malfoy, you know, because she's feisty and bossy, she actually reminds me a lot of Hermione"

Ron gulped and picked up his glass to take a drink.

"Talking about Hermione, you said she was back, where is she now?" Dean asked

"Married to Malfoy" Ron growled and Neville's drink flew from his mouth. The barwoman, Hannah, came running over; wiping up the beer residue. 

"Honestly Neville, I really don't know what to do with you sometimes"

"Sorry love"

You see, Neville and Hannah are married.

"Well be more careful, what made you spit out your drink anyway?" she asked

"I told him that Hermione was married to Draco Malfoy" Ron said in a bored tone, to his surprise, Hannah smiled. 

"That's good, I always kind of hoped they were get together"

Neville looked at his wife as if she had grown two heads as she turned and walked away.

"What did she just say?"

"I believe she said she hoped they would get together" Seamus said, dumbfounded. Ron sighed before plonking down his empty cup and calling Hannah over again.

"Hand me another one, I've got to meet them both tomorrow"