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Chapter 1245: Messy Romantic Entanglements
🕑 Added 2024-09-29 17:43:57 +0000 UTC"Stop calling her that, Ginny," said Mrs. Weasley sharply. "Well, I need to get back to the kitchen before she destroys it. … Eat your eggs while they’re warm … hah!"
Looking careworn, she left the room.
Ron still seemed slightly punch - drunk, staring at the door. He was shaking his head experimentally like a dog trying to rid its ears of water.
"Don’t you get used to her if she’s staying in the same house?" Harry asked.
"Well, you do," said Ron, "but if she jumps out at you unexpectedly, like then, I still can't get used to it. But she's actually not bad..."
"Ron, how did you come to this conclusion?" Hermione asked in disbelief.
"She's not actually as bad as Ginny says, is she?" Ron argued. "She's not that lazy either. She’s been helping with dinner these days — she makes great chicken. Besides, Evan knows her best."
"I don’t really know her that well, it’s just..." Evan paused. He wanted to say that he was more familiar with Gabrielle, but that didn't seem to be the right thing to say. "We just knew each other earlier than the others, that's all."
Evan felt a bit helpless when it came to Fleur, as this young lady always found different ways to tease him.
Of course, he didn’t mind her doing that, and they actually got along quite well.
Hermione also had a good relationship with Gabrielle, but she had never liked Fleur.
This had been the case back at Hogwarts and during their trip to Egypt; Hermione had always been hostile towards Fleur.
However, Fleur ignored Hermione from beginning to end.
In her eyes, Hermione was just a little girl and she didn't need to care about her opinion at all.
This attitude seemed to be one of the reasons that annoyed Hermione even more.
"She also traveled to Egypt with you last year."
"Yeah, she and Gabrielle...well, Fleur is actually not as bad as you think," said Evan, looking at the angry Ginny. "If she’s serious about marrying Bill, you should try to accept it."
"You boys," Ginny turned to face Ron with an expression that showed she knew this would happen. "You don't really want her around forever, do you?"
Ron didn't answer, merely shrugged.
"Well, Mum’s going to put a stop to it if she can, I bet you anything," she said immediately.
"How’s Mrs. Weasley going to manage that?" asked Hermione.
"She keeps trying to get Tonks round for dinner. I think she’s hoping Bill will fall for Tonks instead. I hope he does, I’d much rather have her in the family."
"Yeah, that's brilliant thinking," said Ron sarcastically. "Listen, no bloke in his right mind’s going to fancy Tonks when Fleur’s around. I mean, Tonks is okay-looking when she isn’t doing stupid things to her hair and her nose, but —"
"She's a damn sight nicer than Phlegm," said Ginny.
"And she's more intelligent, she's an Auror!" Hermione agreed.
"Fleur’s not stupid, she’s very good, even enough to represent Beauxbatons in the Triwizard Tournament," said Harry.
"That Tournament was a joke, and, Harry, I can’t believe you’re siding with her," Hermione said immediately.
She and Ginny had definitely communicated last night, and were surprisingly in agreement on the matter of Fleur.
Evan figured the smartest thing to do was exactly what he was doing—say nothing and focus on eating his eggs.
"I suppose you like the way Phlegm says 'Arry,' do you?" asked Ginny scornfully.
Fleur, following the French habit of dropping the "H" sound, pronounced Harry's name as "Arry".
"No," Harry looked at Evan who was concentrating on eating eggs, wishing he hadn’t spoken, "I was just saying, Phlegm — I mean, Fleur —"
"I'd much rather have Tonks in the family," said Ginny harshly. "At least she’s a laugh."
"Yes, that's right. Tonks has a lot of good qualities, and I support her," Hermione seemed dissatisfied with Evan's silence. "Evan, what do you think? Do you also support Bill and Tonks being together?"
"What's the point of us arguing about this kind of thing here?" Evan swallowed the last bite of egg, knowing that he couldn't hide any longer. "I know a little bit about this matter. Tonks doesn't like Bill at all."
"Impossible. She’s been upset ever since she heard about their wedding."
"It's not because of that, and Tonks is not the kind of girl who doesn't take the initiative to fight for it," said Evan. "She’s been down lately because of Lupin. She likes Lupin, and I think he must have rejected her."
"What?!" Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny all turned to look at Evan.
"Tonks likes Lupin?"
"How could that be? How do you know?"
"Remember a couple of years ago, when I first learned how to Apparate?" said Evan to Hermione. "I took you to the Hogwarts Magic office in Diagon Alley, and we met Lupin and Tonks there."
"Of course I remember. That was the first time Tonks and I met," said Hermione. "But that doesn't prove anything. Tonks said she only went over to help because she had nothing else to do. She had just become an Auror and didn't have any missions yet."
"These visits continued for the next two years. You don’t think she’s had nothing to do all that time, do you?"
Hermione was silent. If this was true, it was too abnormal...
"How could Tonks like Lupin? There's such a big age gap between them," said Ginny in disbelief. "Besides, Lupin is a werewolf. Doesn't she mind?"
"Tonks probably doesn't mind, but Lupin obviously does. What you said is exactly why he rejected Tonks," said Evan. "He’s been going down into the underground world to find other werewolves, trying to gather information. That mission is dangerous, and he could die at any moment. I think Tonks must have told Lupin how she feels, but he turned her down, and that’s why she’s been so troubled lately, just like what we saw last night."
There was a long silence in the room as everyone digested this sudden news.
Ginny, in particular, was still trying to match Bill and Tonks up. She seemed to find it hard to accept, but she had no way to refute Evan.
“Looks like Bill and Tonks are out of the picture. I’ll go tell Mum," she said finally.
"So what should we do now?" Hermione asked. "What should we do for Lupin and Tonks?"
Evan sighed. Hermione really was...
Their own romantic lives were a mess, yet they were always trying to help others with theirs.
Instead of doing that, she might as well think about what was happening between Harry and Ginny, or how to take their relationship further.
After all this time, they shouldn’t just become affectionate when they were transformed into cats — real life could be just as good.
