An Outlandish Affair

Chapter 9

They remained in silence for almost a full minute. Draco looked so surprised it bordered on frightened as Hermione quietly rifled through her bag to make sure she had everything she might need to bring with her.

"Well, I'm all ready to go whenever you are," she reported when she had gone through everything three times and he still hadn't spoken. Draco composed his face, looked her up and down, nodded once, and turned towards the entrance of the tent.

"Follow me, my lady, I'll show ye to him," he said while holding the tent flap aside for Hermione to walk through ahead of him. "Weasley's on the other side of the field where we were pilin' the bodies up. There was already a sizable mound there so we jus' added to it, but he was buried underneath it all," Draco explained with a grimace as they walked.

Hermione's stomach dropped at the mention of the name Weasley again. It had to be one of Ron's ancestors, there couldn't possibly be another family with that name. That also meant he had to be a wizard, and very possibly in league with whatever Lucius' plan was with these muggles. Her and Ron had just had a conversation about this, after their engagement. Hermione strained her memory, trying to remember everything Ron had told her about his family's past.

***

Ron and Hermione had gotten off the Hogwarts Express at Hogsmeade Station but all they wanted to do was spend more time alone together, and Ron had only been able to secure a one way ride on the train. Hermione took Ron's hand and apparated them to the highlands surrounding Hogwarts. She had done some scouting of the area when she officially got the job offer, and she thought she knew some spots that could provide some fresh potion ingredients, and perhaps a bit of privacy for the couple.

They continued to do this, apparating every couple hundred feet, never letting go of the others' hand. They kissed and giggled while hidden in bushes and behind rocks, not truly paying attention to where they were going and never actually bothering to look for potions supplies. Eventually, they ended up at the edge of a large empty moor full of small, rounded rocks arranged in semi-neat rows. They wandered slowly down the first row, reading the names carved roughly into the rocks.

"Scott, Bell, Baird, Fraser, Macdonald, Cameron, Campbell," Ron read aloud softly while they walked. They continued into the second row when suddenly they came upon a stone that read-

"Weasley?" Hermione said, perhaps a little louder than she should have in what was clearly a hallowed place. "You never told me you had Scottish ancestors," she said, looking up at Ron.

"Yeah, well, I thought maybe the red hair would be a small clue," Ron quipped as he smiled down at Hermione.

"We're from all over the United Kingdom really but the majority of us stayed around in Britain," he began to explain. Hermione let go of Ron's hand to kneel in front of the stone and she began to clear away some of the overgrown plants while he spoke.

"There were a couple of weird ones, you know like every family, they had more of the "pure blood" ideals. You know what I'm talking about; marrying their cousins, reusing the same 'powerful' ancestral names, keeping the wizarding bloodlines clean, all that utter rubbish," he rolled his eyes as he finished speaking, also kneeling down next to Hermione to help clear away the remaining weeds.

When the stone was clear they stood. Ron pulled Hermione to his side with one arm and kissed the top of her head, while Hermione pointed her wand at the stone and conjured a small wreath of white roses.

***

This had to be one of those pureblood-obsessed ancestors Ron had spoken about, it made the most sense. She wished she knew more about his family tree so she could know exactly how closely related they were, whenever she found out who this Weasley was.