Quit Before You Lose Everything

13. The Truth

September 23rd 3:30 pm

Arthur didn't ask any questions or poke at Hermione to spill about how it went. He merely welcomed her back into the van with a soft smile, and drove off. Offering only a wave to the three other boys who nodded in recognition, before climbing into their own cars.

It wasn't until the Burrow was in sight did Hermione speak up.

"He's going to help me." Hermione spoke.

Arthur hummed at first, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. The van slowed, just enough to be noticeable on the bumpy dirt road.

"I'm glad for that." He finally voiced, turning onto the laneway but taking the turn at a snail's space. "I'm here-well really all us Weasley's are, if you need us." He turned, nodding at her before pulling the van around to the back of the house, parking near the shed.

There in the backyard, Ginny was shooting shots against George who was positioned in the goal. Wiping sweat from his brow as he dove after the soccer balls that Ginny was lobbing his way. Fred was seated on the back steps, sipping a bottled beer and cheering every time George managed to knock one away.

"You are doing far more than-" Hermione began, reaching for her seatbelt as Arthur cranked the engine off, but he stopped her with a sharp grunt.

"You living here is eases my mind far more than you realize." He spoke firmly, hands tightening on the steering wheel. "I've had my assumptions for many years Hermione-sending you back now would tear me apart." He turned, facing the shed and Hermione could of swore she saw him reach up, wiping at his eyes.

"Arthur." Hermione spoke, worried.

"I wouldn't stand to see it." He turned back to her, cheeks red and eyes watery.

"Oh." Hermione curled in, hands folding on her lap before she frowned, slightly. "Why did you hire me Arthur, you had to have realized I was severely underqualifed." She pointed out.

It was a question she had always wondered but had never been brave enough to ask.

It seems as if today was all about sucking it up and spitting it out.

"Because no one quits a dream just because they felt like it Hermione." Arthur spoke, taking a deep breath as he unbuckled his seatbelt. Hermione unclicked hers as well. "I knew something had to have happened in order for you to throw it all away like that." He nodded, then reached for the handle on the door.

She hopped out, feet hitting the gravel and rounded to the front of the van. Door slamming in her wake, causing the Weasley twins to look over curiously but they didn't dare approach.

"I couldn't take it anymore." She told him, as Arthur juggled the keys from one hand to another. His eyes trained on the house, watery around the edges.

"The pressure?" He asked, keys landing in his right.

"The pain." She answered, then turned to step away as Arthur smacked the keys into his left.

She sat beside Fred on the porch steps, grateful that for once in Fred's life he didn't pester her for answers. Probably having received a lecture from either Arthur or Molly.

Or George-though she couldn't picture it.

Rather he reached into the Coleman cooler behind him, popped the cap off the beer and pressed it into her hand.

"Maybe now George will actually step his game up." Fred snorted, clinking their beer bottle necks together.

Hermione turned, watching George as he shuffled on his feet. Gearing up for Ginny's next shot, trying to calculate it before her foot connected to the ball.