Marriage and Job (Temperature = 0.6)

The unrequited love of Ron Weasley is so great that Harry has had to put up with his fair share of stupid, but it is very funny. The Quidditch captain, who has been caught having a romantic relationship with a third year girl, has been given a full pardon from the Ministry of Magic. It was supposed to be a simple sentence, but Harry's heart has not yet let him forget his poor, orphaned sister.

"I'm sorry, but Hermione Granger is a person," said Mr. Weasley in a thick voice, "and she is a human being, and she deserves better than this."

But the apology was not quite enough.

"I think I ought to have a word with Hermione about this, Harry," he went on, addressing Ron. "Let's see what she's got to say about all this."

Harry was starting to understand. He had been wondering when Ron had seen Hermione, but he hadn't thought that he would get the chance now.

"Well, you see, she's not as stupid as you and me, she'll see right through you if you get close to her," said Mr. Weasley. "You're going to have to learn to ignore this."

"But I can't ignore her," said Harry, still trying to ignore Ron.

"You're going to be in a position where you can't ignore her," said Mr. Weasley, "you're going to have to make a choice between staying with your godfather and being with your best friend. You've made a choice, Harry. You can stay with him, or you can leave him, and you've made the right one. But you've still got to be careful. You know where he's going, but you also know where you're going to end up. You know your sister's going to end up with you, and you're going to have to be careful not to let her get too close to you, or she'll end up as a third year girl."

Harry thought of his sister. His mouth fell open.

"But you're going to end up marrying a girl who's going to end up as a third year girl!" said Ron, shocked, though Harry didn't care. "That's the point  you can keep your relationship with your godfather, whatever happens to your sister!"

"But I'm not going to marry her, I'm marrying Ron!" said Harry. "I just can't stand her marrying a pureblood like you!"

"Harry, that's not your decision to make, you made it with Ron, you just chose the way you were going to  "

"I'm not going to marry her," said Harry at once. "I'm going to marry Ron."

Ron looked slightly confused, but Harry was determined to keep talking.

"Well, I can't stand her marrying a pureblood like you, Hermione," he said quietly. "That's what you've come to me for, isn't it? Your sister's got the right to decide what kind of woman she wants to marry  if she wants to  and if she wants to  that's what she's got to decide."

"Yeah, but you've got to make a decision about what kind of woman you want to marry, and I can't stand another pureblood marrying into the Wizarding family!"

"I don't mean to come off that way," said Harry, "but I think she's got the right to decide what she wants to do with her life, and I don't think she should have to choose between her job and her family."

"But you'd better get back to work, Harry, you've got to get back to work!" Ron said, looking frantic. "You can't afford to lose your job!"

"I know I can't," said Harry, "it's a huge investment, but I think I'm going to be better off by going back to school."

"But you're going to lose your job, Harry!" Ron said, looking terrified. "You're never going to be able to find another job, you've already lost your first!"

"But I'm going back to school to study Magical Law!" said Harry. "That's all I need to do!"

"No, no, you're going back to school to find out more about the Dark Arts, you've got to do the same thing, you just need a bit of practice."

"But I've lost my job!"

"No, you haven't," said Harry, "I've found a decent one!"

"You'll need a new one, Harry," said Ron, who looked just as confused as ever. "You need practice, you need to get your hands dirty, you've got to learn how to cope with the rigors of the job. . . ."