The Gloriana Set

Chains

Half-drunk, Hermione and Ron nearly splinched themselves Apparating from Azkaban Dock to Hogsmeade They staggered into the Three Broomsticks and found a table in the upper level where they'd had their ill-fated date months before.

Ron was still pale and shaky; he kept nervously eyeing Hermione's hair as if the Gloriana diamonds would leap off her head and attack him. It took two plates of sausages and potatoes to calm him down. After the waiter served them fat wedges of apple pie and left, Hermione reached across the table and took Ron's hand.

"Thank you, Ronald Bilius Weasley," she said. "You more than Exceeded Expectations today. You were Outstanding."

Ron beamed as he swallowed half of his pie slice. "No higher praise from you, Hermione."

He looked down at their clasped hands, then up again, and his blue eyes were sad.

"I was awful to you, the last time we ate here," Ron said. "Merlin, I'm no better than Lucius—calling you names, treating you like that just because you didn't want to ..."

"It's alright, Ron." She squeezed his hand.

"Did you mean what you said, about me?" Ron asked. "You really loved me once?"

Hermione nodded, feeling a little teary.

"But you love Malfoy now, don't you, Mi?" he asked. "Even with the psycho parents and the freaky diamonds and the naughty tangerines?"

She nodded again.

"Merlin." Ron's mouth turned down. "Will you tell Malfoy you saw his father?"

Hermione sighed. "I won't have to."

Ron walked Hermione back to Hogwarts but refused to go further than the one-eyed witch's statue. "I need to get home," he said. "Mum's likely going spare. She'll never let me out of my room now."

"Wait a minute," Hermione said. She summoned a quill and parchment out of her beaded bag and sat in the middle of the corridor, writing rapidly:

Dear Molly,

Please forgive Ron for leaving the Burrow without telling anyone. I needed him for a delicate mission, and without Ron my efforts would have surely failed. Ron demonstrated courage, self-discipline and maturity, and helped me free a young woman from a captivity more terrible than she knew. I'm very proud of him.

See you this Christmas,

All my love,

Hermione

Hermione stood and handed the parchment to Ron, who read it wide-eyed. He grinned as he rolled it up and stuffed it in his cloak. "It's treacle tarts for me all week!" he said gleefully. "Mum will be revolting." His voice climbed higher. "My boy! So brave! So mature!"

He held out his arms for a hug, and Hermione embraced him without hesitation, then stepped back and took his hands.

"Let me know if you need protection again," Ron said, looking smug.

She laughed. "I certainly will."

Ron disappeared down the witch's hump with a jaunty wave, and Hermione began climbing staircases, smiling to herself.

She stopped outside the owlry to read Lucius' scroll; she wouldn't deliver anything to Astoria on his word alone. The message was as she expected: short, to the point and vaguely creepy.

My dear Miss Greengrass,

I have decided it is in our family's best interest if you remove La Chaîne d'Étoiles and return it to us.