Matt had Disapparated back to his apartment and the rest of the group was left to mull over his predicament. Neville decided he needed to stretch his legs before returning to Hogwarts, so he went for a walk down Diagon Alley. Luna naturally accompanied him, and the rest of the group did as well. It felt strange with Matt not joining them, but they mostly understood. Hermione especially could tell that her American friend had been severely taxed by their meeting. She felt bad for him and there was a pall over the friends, as they contemplated Matt's fate.
"Poor Matt, and I thought I had it rough with my gran. But she's nothing like his mother." Neville said. "It's no wonder he has trouble dating."
"Yeah, he's a sweet guy but…he's safe, you know?" Ginny said. Neville, Harry, and Ron all looked confused.
"What d'you mean 'safe'?" Ron asked.
"Oh, you know, he's someone that if Hermione, Luna, and I went out, we could take him with us. And if we were all in relationships, none of us would be worried he'd try to make a pass at us. You know. Safe." Ginny explained.
"Oh. So, in other words, boring." Ron replied. Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose as they walked. In the falling light of the chilly October evening, Diagon Alley's shops were blazing with candles and torches inside and out. The alley was cast in a warm comforting light, against the blue-black chilly sky.
"Matt isn't boring, his work is very interesting." Hermione said, going to their friend's defense.
"Sure, if you like hovering over a cauldron all day." Ron said dismissively.
"Just because you're no good with a recipe and a ladle…" Hermione shot back as Luna and Ginny both giggled.
"How are we supposed to find someone to marry Matt in two months' time?" Neville asked, bringing the subject back to their original topic.
"I dunno. Hermione, you were always the one who was good with feelings." Harry said after being silent for some time. Hermione's brow furrowed. She was the only other person in the group who was single. She had not thought much about dating much in recent months.
"This isn't even feelings though as much as we need a quick solution…right?" she said, sounding unsure. "And truth be told, I haven't been dating much myself…"
There were surprised looks exchanged all around. The group strolled past Flourish and Blotts as they neared Gringotts. Books glowed in the shop windows under dozens of candles, the filigree reflecting the flickering light of torches.
"I figured you would have gotten back on the horse after…well you know…" Ron said leaving a lot unsaid as neither of them wanted their dirty laundry aired for everyone to know.
"We were never good for each other." Hermione replied. "And well…I did date Oliver Wood for a period…but he was a little too…"
"Into his own broom?" Ginny asked with a knowing smirk.
"You could say that." Hermione confirmed to snorts and chuckles all around. "But I hear you're doing just fine Ron."
"Well…I guess…" Ron gave a noncommittal shrug.
"Lily Moon, Sophie Roper, and Megan Jones might say more than just fine!" Ginny interjected, still grinning. Ron turned red.
"Yeah, but those were all in the past. And anyway, Sophie turned out to be into girls, didn't she? And Lily Moon…well she was a bit over it, really." Ron said.
"Parvati seems to like you just fine. You've been together, what, a year now?" Ginny pressed on.
"Ron! You never told me you were dating Parvati!" Hermione sounded scandalized.
"I didn't think you'd want to know…" Ron replied gently.
"It's nice of you to consider my feelings, but honestly, I'm ok with you dating someone else. Besides, our incident was two years ago. We're better off and much happier now anyway, right?" Hermione said brightly.
"Yeah, yeah we are." Ron said with a smile.
"Why didn't Parvati join you?" Luna asked as she skipped along, her hand holding onto Neville's swinging arm.
"She had to work late again." Ron's tone was sad. "She keeps the shop open later on Saturdays; says she gets more interesting customers who spend more on Saturday nights."
It was no secret that Parvati had taken to Divination quite well in their school years. She had chosen to open a shop in Ottery St. Catchpole, selling Tarot card, crystal balls, and various other trinkets to Muggles. But she kept a backroom separate from her main store for the Wizarding community, offering potion ingredients and repairs to things like Sneak-o-scopes and various dark detectors. The market for them had decreased drastically since the end of the Second Wizarding War. However, a small sect of the community, mostly former Aurors and their families who had worked alongside Alastor Moody, still had demand for them. Parvati even offered to perform Divination rituals and palm readings for both Wizards and Muggles alike. Ron still seemed to think it was all nonsense, but Parvati did not.
Hermione fell silent as they wandered Diagon Alley, basking in the twinkling torch and candlelight. She was caught up in her own thoughts as they passed Madam Malkin's. The famous clothing store had moved premises after the war ended. The store was much larger now and she seemed to be doing better than ever. A pink floaty dress with a layered skirt that gradually grew darker as it went down caught Hermione's eye, and she paused.
"You…you don't suppose Matt's awful luck has anything to do with me, do you?" Hermione blurted out before she could stop herself.
"Whyever would you think that Hermione?" Ginny asked, looking puzzled, Luna, Neville, Harry, and Ron all looked equally perplexed.
"Because…when we had the Yule Ball for the Triwizard Tournament…he asked me to go with him…and I turned him down." Hermione admitted.
"Well, so what? You turned down Neville too." Ron pointed out and Neville nodded.
"Yes of course, but that was because Neville asked me after Viktor had…not before like Matt."
"Wait, Matt asked you to go to the ball with him?" Neville said, sounding like he had just had a revelation himself.
"Why did you turn him down?" Luna wondered.
"Because…I only saw Matt as a friend. The ball was very romantic or was supposed to be. If I had said yes, I would have gone with him as a friend, not as a true date."
"Like Harry and I did for Professor Slughorn's Christmas party." Luna said nodding her understanding.
"Yes exactly." Hermione confirmed.
"That explains a lot." Neville said.
"What explains a lot, Neville, what are you getting at?" Harry asked.
"Matt's mum. He told me, mid-December that year, that he wasn't planning on staying for the ball. Said he couldn't get a date. He tried and the one person he really wanted had turned him down…" Neville began. Hermione turned bright red, her cheeks glowing in the torchlight of the alley. She had been the one Matt wanted to go with the most.
"Anyway, he had asked about everyone in our year and then some, even Eloise Midgen turned him down." Hermione winced at Neville's statement. Eloise was a very nice girl, for her to have turned down Matt, who Hermione thought was equally kind, it must have been bad. Her guilt was mounting.
"Once he decided to give it up for a bad job, he wrote home to tell his mum and grandad that he wasn't staying at school. His mum went off the rails. She ordered him to remain on school grounds. While you were out having a snowball fight…" Neville continued. Hermione remembered vividly that Christmas Day that Harry, Ron, Ginny, and their brothers Fred and George, all had a snowball fight the evening of the ball. "She showed up at school. She gave Matt a dressing down like I've never heard. I thought gran was scary when she got mad, but Matt's mum? Nah, mate. I'd take Professor Snape over her."
Hermione closed her eyes for a moment. This was awful to hear, the others were enraptured by this story that they had all somehow missed.
"Anyway, she went as far as saying Matt was a disappointment to her. That she couldn't believe he wouldn't find someone to take to the ball. Blamed him, as if it was his fault everyone had dates already. She even told him she wished he wasn't her son."
The group stopped dead in the middle of the alley and turned to listen fully to what Neville was saying. Luna's carefree skipping had stopped, and she was gripping his arm in shock. Hermione's hand was over her mouth, and she was on the verge of tears. Ron and Harry were both agape and Ginny turned to Harry.
"If you ever say anything like that to one of our future kids, I'll divorce you that night." Ginny said.
"Don't worry, Gin. If I ever say that to one of our future kids, I'll divorce myself as well." Harry replied.
"Well, after that, the Ambassador marched to Dumbledore's office and demanded to speak to him. She brought in both Dumbledore and McGonagall to the common room. She officially deputized Matt, in front of everyone there into being an official representative of M.A.C.U.S.A. He hated it. She demanded he have an official seat at the head table and told him that she needed the headmaster's word that he danced with at least one person that night."
"So that's why Matt was sitting on the other side of Percy…" Harry said, finally answering a mystery that had been bothering him since their fourth year at Hogwarts. Neville nodded.
"No wonder he looked so miserable. He barely said two words to anyone that night." Hermione said.
"Yeah, and it's why he danced with McGonagall first chance he got and then asked to be excused." Neville said.
"That's horrendous!" Ginny exclaimed.
"Oh yeah. She even showed up the next day and sent an owl from Hogsmeade. Dumbledore gave him special permission to go, and she apparently stripped him of his status immediately and then Disapparated, furious." Neville concluded. "He told me that last bit the night after before bed."
"Well, now we know why we didn't see him for almost a week even with sharing a dorm with him." Ron quipped. "Ow!"
"Don't be an arse!" Ginny said after having punched Ron hard in the shoulder. He rubbed it looking upset.
"What? All I'm saying is, I don't blame him. I wouldn't have come out of my room if mum had done that to me, either." Ron replied.
"This is all my fault!" Hermione said, tears threatening to burst from her eyes.
"No, it's not." Luna said bluntly.
"Yeah, you couldn't have known what Matt's mum would do. And besides, you had good reason for turning him down." Harry said.
"The truth is, I never thought of Matt as a romantic partner until…" Hermione said as the group resumed walking, heading back in the direction of the Leaky Cauldron. Shops were beginning to close, and some torches were being extinguished as the shop owners locked up for the night. The alley was slowly growing darker and colder, the night, like their memories, pressed in as they headed back towards Muggle London.
"The tent." Harry finished for her. She nodded solemnly.
"What happened in the tent?" Ron asked, looking retroactively threatened and offended.
"After you left…" Hermione began. "My feelings for you were muddled. I didn't know what to think of our relationship. You were in such a foul mood and left so suddenly…I thought you'd die out there by yourself."
Ron looked legitimately offended now.
"Obviously you didn't. But I couldn't let the sadness and emptiness go so easily. I cried myself to sleep most nights and of course Matt was sleeping in the bunk above mine."
"Because he was safe?" Luna asked and Hermione again nodded confirmation.
"Well, it must have gotten to him finally. He came down one evening, after you had gone to bed, Harry. He asked me if I wanted him to sleep next to me. It was entirely for comfort, and nothing happened, of course. We slept back-to-back and he faced the wall most nights. But it did help." Hermione said. "And then, one night, he said to me, that when you returned, Ron, he wouldn't stand in the way of our happiness."
"He did that?" Ron looked shocked that Matt had shown that much loyalty to him, that he was willing to comfort Hermione as much as he could, without pushing himself between them in their relationship.
"He did. And it wasn't until that moment that I had never considered Matt might hold feelings for me, something more than just friendship. And of course, I was in no position to explore those possibilities and feelings. And once you came back Ron, my feelings for you became clear again."
"Hermione, you always said I had a saving people thing, Matt's worse than me." Harry observed.
"How do mean?" Hermione asked.
"I mean, he sacrificed himself for yours and Ron's relationship." Harry said. "You wouldn't have seen it, but when we were in Hogwarts, trying to find Horcruxes, and you and Ron had your, well, moment with the kiss over the House elves…"
"What about it?" Hermione asked.
"Matt looked like he had lost everything. But you wouldn't have caught it, but he told me later, after Ron mentioned about evacuating them, he went and actually did it. That's where he slipped off to right after that." Harry added.
"That's where he was during all that mess?" Hermione said, amazed. "He-he always thought S.P.E.W. was silly and never understood it…"
"Probably still – Ow!" Ron was rubbing his other shoulder now, as Ginny had smacked him again.
"I think he knew you cared. He was trying to show you that he was paying attention all that time." Harry said.
"Harry I'm surprised. You're not bad with 'feelings and things' yourself, you know." Hermione looked impressed.
"Still don't know who we're going to get to marry him." Ron said as they entered the Leaky Cauldron once more. Neville kissed Luna and hugged the others goodbye, giving Luna an extra smooch before using the fireplace to return to his office at Hogwarts. Luna was staying with Ginny and Harry before resuming her travels on Monday and Ginny was returning to her Quidditch team then as well. Harry, Ginny, and Luna all Disapparated. Ron and Hermione bid each other farewell before returning to their respective flats, Hermione with a lot on her mind.