InsaneJournal

Believe that Magic Works (6/10) - R/Hr - R
Title: Believe that Magic Works (6/10)
Author: shocfix
Pairing: Ron/Hermione
Words: 3800
Rating: R

Written for sugarandginger’s Definitive Ron/Hermione Year Seven Novella Challenge

As the Trio set off on their search for the Horcruxes, Ron finally accepts that he wants to look after his two best friends in completely different ways


Chapter 6 : Pregnant Pause
****
We'd reached the ground floor without having any plan on where to go next when Harry stopped dead and I ploughed into him.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"I want to see Ginny," he said, apologetically. "Could you two go home without me? I'll be back later."

I nodded, but Hermione overrode me. "I was thinking about that, Harry," she said. "The library at Grimmauld Place won't be much help on Rowena Ravenclaw. I think we should do our research here."

"Oh, sure," Harry said vaguely. "You know the research is your baby, Hermione. What do you want to do, go down into the village and take a room?"

"Yes," she said, elbowing me in the ribs without even turning to check if I was smirking. "At the Three Broomsticks, not the Hog's Head!"

"The Hog's Head isn't that bad, Hermione," I said. "At least the landlady isn't under Imperius."

"Well, maybe she'll laugh at your jokes now she's not being controlled by Malfoy," Harry suggested and I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Oh, very mature," Hermione muttered. "Harry, we'll take rooms and meet you there."

"And don't come in without knocking – or if there is a tie on the door-handle," I added and she shushed me. "And give my love to Ginny. A handshake – give a handshake to Ginny."

Hermione dragged me out of the door and set off at a fast pace down the lawns, but I was eight inches taller than her and found it easy to catch up. "What's wrong?" I asked.

She whirled to face me. "What's wrong? What's wrong?" she snapped. "We had no idea what we were doing in there! That thing could have…" she was at a loss for words.

"Blown up the castle?" I suggested.

"Yes! We… you… Harry…"

I held out my arms and she collapsed against me, sobbing.

"Just yesterday," she sniffed. "Yesterday! We didn't know where it was. Yesterday!"

"I know," I murmured, stroking her hair.

"Book," she said, between her tears. "Kreacher… Azkaban… Aberforth… locket… what a day… no idea what we were doing…"

"You forgot the bra," I joked.

"What?" she gasped leaning back to look up at me.

"Well, I'm just saying," I explained. "It's been a long day, and you left something out – and I had no idea what I was doing there, either."

She looked furious, but her tears had stopped. "How can you joke about something like that?" she demanded.

"Because we're fine, Hermione," I said, pulling her close again and kissing her forehead. "Yes, we didn't think it through; yes, maybe we should have gone somewhere else to blow up a bit of You Know Who, but that's what Harry is like, isn't it? He jumps right in and does things, and they usually work out, after a Tergeo or four."

She tutted as if she wasn't convinced, but turned back towards the gates.

We took two rooms at the Three Broomsticks; Madam Rosmerta did seem surprised to see us, especially when we took a twin and a single room, and her eyes flickered round the room, looking for Harry.

Hermione raised an eyebrow at me, but apparently there was nothing like being accidentally poisoned by a woman to put me off.

Or perhaps it was the girl by my side, the girl with her hand in mine as we climbed the stairs.

Neither of us had the energy to Apparate home for pyjamas; Hermione came into my room and we took off our robes and curled up in my bed together. I hardly got a glimpse of the bra before she slipped under the covers and turned to hold me.

And there was barely anything sexual about it. We were in our underwear, in my bed and my hands were on her bare back and all we did was hold each other.

I was dropping of when she poked me. "We should wait up for Harry," she whispered.

"No," I muttered. "Ginny'll take care of him."

"Take care?" she echoed, peering up at me in the darkness. "Since when are you this accepting of Harry and Ginny being together?"

"Take care," I said firmly. "Because if he needs to be held just a quarter as much as I do, then he needs his girlfriend, OK?"

Hermione sniffed and wriggled closer, her head on my shoulder, her arm slipped across my chest and I wrapped my arms around her and we fell asleep.

The best night's sleep I'd had all year was broken by Harry pulling back the curtains the next morning. I blinked at him as Hermione made a wonderful noise as the sunlight fell across her face and snuggled closer. Harry raised a ridiculously suggestive eyebrow at me and I rolled my eyes.

"Where've you been?" I asked, nodding at the unused bed behind him.

"Me?" he said. "What are you implying, Ron? And, before you answer that question, I should point out that you are in bed with your girlfriend, apparently naked."

"Not naked," Hermione muttered into my chest.

Harry laughed. "And, where have I been? I slept in Hermione's room, just in case, and I've been home to get us all some clean clothes, if we're going to be here a while."

"Clothes?" asked Hermione, opening one eye.

Harry picked up her bag and threw it on my bed.

Hermione sat up to rummage through it; the blankets fell to her lap, presenting Harry with a view of the famous bra, which made him blush, and me with a view of her naked back, disappearing into plain white knickers, which made me appreciate that I really did have my girlfriend in my bed, almost naked.

"I'm impressed, Harry," she said, hauling out a t-shirt and wriggling into it.

"I'm not," I complained. "What were you doing in my girlfriend's underwear?"

They both turned to gape at me.

"Drawer," I explained. "Underwear drawer."

"Well. I'm scarred for life. Thanks for that image, Ron," Hermione laughed, getting out of bed. The t-shirt didn't quite cover her knickers and, as she bent down to step into her jeans, I looked and Harry looked away.

Gathering up her robes and shoes from the day before, she said, "shower," and slipped from the room.

"Shower," I echoed, closing my eyes and imagining all that skin I'd been pressed up against all night.

"Well?" Harry asked, spoiling the moment.

"Well, what?" I asked grumpily.

"You slept together," he said, coming and sitting on my bed.

"Just slept," I said primly.

He snorted and looked pointedly at my groin, where the blankets had been pulled tight across my body when he sat down.

"Harry," I complained. "We didn't even snog. The whole near death experience freaked us both out too much, you know? This is just from seeing her in her underwear this morning."

Harry grinned at me. "Very nice underwear," he said.

"And I'm not sure I like the idea of you going through her underwear drawer, mate," I pouted.

"What use would clean clothes be without underwear?" he asked, far too reasonably. "It felt far more intimate bringing her research notes!"

I laughed.

"She, um, wears a bra," Harry said.

"Yeah. I'd never even heard of one till yesterday," I said.

His eyebrows shot up. "How is that possible? And what happened yesterday?"

"When you interrupted us at Grimmauld Place," I explained.

"Sorry," he said. "But really. You're seventeen. And you've never heard of a bra?"

"It's a Muggle thing," I said and his eyes stood out on stalks.

"No!" he gasped. "Well, that explains why…." he grimaced. "I mean, that's why…"

I raised an eyebrow.

Harry snorted. "Can we just pretend that we're dating Lavender and Parvati when we discuss our girlfriends' breasts?" he asked plaintively.

I sniggered. "Nope. Lavender never wore one," I pointed out.

"And Parvati's aren't pale and freckled," he smirked as I grabbed a pillow and whacked him with it.

He fought back and tried smothering me with the pillow, but I twisted out from under him – thank you, Fred and George – and pushed him back on the bed.

"Y'know, I think it's worth the trauma of discussing my sister's breasts," I admitted, as I pinned his wrists to the bed, idly noticing that this wasn't as easy as it used to be, that he was nearly as tall as me.

"You do?" he asked, stopping struggling.

"Well, yeah. I mean, I know it was awful for you having Lavender around all the time. Just imagine if we really were dating Lavender and Parvati – and if Hermione and Ginny were dating, um, Seamus and Dean – we'd go insane. Eight of us, hanging out together? It wouldn't work."

"Yeah, I see what you mean."

"The four of us together is just perfect," I decided. "And you and Hermione are family, anyway."

"Really?" he asked.

"Absolutely. We'll just have to get used to the idea of all the naked breasts," I said bravely.

"It's not as if the naked breasts will be involved when the four of us are hanging out together," Harry pointed out.

"Nope, no naked breasts hanging out," I sniggered.

Harry snorted with laughter and I flopped down next to him, both looking up at the ceiling and giggling.

"You're just jealous, because of the bra thing," he said.

"Not at all," I replied fervently. "I like the bra."

"You do? They're the bane of a teenage Muggle boy's existence."

"No! It's like Christmas presents; they're wrapped up in pretty paper, just waiting to be unwrapped," I said dreamily.

Harry laughed again. "I've seen how you rip open Christmas presents, Ron."

"Well, I know what to give you for your birthday," said Hermione from the open doorway.

We both sat up, guiltily. "How much did you hear?" I asked shakily.

"From the really sweet bit when you said that Harry and I are family," she said. "Right past the discussion of my breasts."

Uh, oh. "Look, Hermione," I said, but she waved it away.

"We agreed yesterday that you are both perverts," she said. "But you're my perverts."

We both laughed.

"And I understand that boys talk to their mates about things like that; I know Ginny and I do."

Harry and I looked at each other and flushed.

"Anyway," Hermione continued breezily. "I don't mind, I know this year has been bad…"

"Bad?" I interrupted. "I've had a great year."

"Ron," she said patiently, "were you covered in exploded Dark Lord yesterday?"

"Well, yeah, a bit," I admitted. "But apart from that – no classes, spending all day, everyday with my two favourite people? A great year."

She shook her head and sighed. "Well, thank you, I think," she said. "I'm going down to breakfast."

"Not alone, you're not," I said, shoving Harry out of the way so I could clamber off the bed.

"You need a shower," she said, eyeing my boxer shorts and wrinkling her nose. "Harry and I will go down to breakfast and you can meet us downstairs when you're dressed."

She put both hands on my chest to balance herself as she stretched up on tiptoe to kiss my cheek and I caught my breath. Maybe sleeping with all that bare skin wasn't such a good idea. Maybe it didn't help the whole 'taking things slowly' thing.

oOoOo

One cold shower later, I dressed and went downstairs.

Harry and Hermione were eating around the edges of her research notes, spread out on the table before them.

I sat down opposite them and stole Harry's toast.

"You've done all this on Ravenclaw since last night?" I asked, stealing her juice.

She frowned at me. "No, Ron," she said with exaggerated patience. "I did it since last July."

"But we weren't doing Ravenclaw yet," I objected, straight faced.

"I made a note of anything I found about Ravenclaw while I was looking for Slytherin."

"Hey, that's a good idea," I said enthusiastically.

She boggled at me. "How did you pass your OWLs?" she demanded.

"I had you telling me what to do," I explained.

"But, Ron…"

"He's winding you up, Hermione," Harry interrupted.

She looked at me suspiciously and I gave her my most innocent smile. She snorted.

"Right," I said briskly. "So you've exhausted the Black's library. What's the plan for today?"

"Hermione is going to talk to Professor Flitwick," Harry said, "pick his brains about Rowena Ravenclaw, then she's going to hit the library. How d'you fancy tracking down Tonks and Remus for some DADA practise?"

"Excellent," I said. "Is Remus here at the school?"

Harry shrugged. "He's living here with Tonks when he isn't working undercover."

"Wow," I waggled my eyebrows. "The professors have their boyfriends living in their quarters? I am shocked."

"Who did you sleep with last night, Ron?" Harry teased.

"Slept," Hermione muttered.

"Actually," Harry said tentatively. "D'you want me to take the single room in future?"

Hermione blushed. "Harry!" she said.

"Um, no, that's OK," I said. "Let Hermione keep her room."

Harry raised his eyebrows and Hermione looked embarrassed and a bit hurt.

"It really wouldn't help the whole 'taking it slowly' thing," I explained. "Unless we're expecting a near death experience every day, I don't think a friendly hug as we fall asleep is possible."

"Oh, Ron, honestly," Hermione scolded.

"I know how you value honesty in our relationship," I said earnestly, my hand on my heart. "I just don't think I could keep my hands off you."

"Among other things," Harry added.

"Well, ignoring Ron's things," Hermione said.

"That's my problem," I interrupted. "You ignore my things."

"And sometimes a bloke just has to take care of things himself," Harry said.

"Harry!" she gasped.

I sniggered. "We've decided we've been sheltering you from our depravity too much," I explained. "We're not little boys anymore, and you should be made aware of this."

"Yes, well," she said, struggling for nonchalance, "feel free to take care of things yourselves in your shared room; I have a private room to take care of things in."

Harry choked on his juice and I suddenly needed another cold shower. "Hermione!" I groaned as my eyes glazed over.

"That was cruel, Hermione," Harry laughed. "Entering a battle of wits with an unarmed man!"

I was far too distracted for the rest of the morning, as we went up to the school and tracked down various professors. Hermione was closeted with Professor Flitwick, while Harry and I duelled with Remus and Tonks.

I lost every bout and Harry told them why I was so preoccupied and I blushed scarlet.

The next few days were just about perfect.

We ate with the few Gryffindors who'd stayed at school for Christmas. Professor McGonagall offered us rooms at the school, but we decided our odd status would be too confusing. We were of age, so should we have guest-rooms in the staff quarters? But Hermione and I were still Head Girl and Boy, should we sleep in Gryffindor Tower? So we walked back to the Three Broomsticks each evening.

Hermione was happy; she had her library to herself.

Ginny joined Harry and me for our DADA practise and she and Harry really laid into each other. I could never quite bring myself to hurt either of them, but they blasted and burnt and stung each other all day until Tonks had to send them to the Hospital Wing to be healed up.

I really didn't get it, but Hermione said it was their way of getting rid of sexual tension.

"Harry and Ginny Don't Do Things," I reminded her.

"Would you rather they were shagging or duelling?" she asked and I blinked.

"Duelling," I decided and she smirked at me.

"So. How do we get rid of sexual tension?" I asked.

She raised an eyebrow. "We argue," she said. "Haven't you ever noticed how much fun it is to argue?"

"Yeah, sure," I pouted. "We used to argue, but we don't really, anymore."

"Well," she shrugged. "Now we take advantage of them being in the Hospital Wing and go and snog in the library."

You could have knocked me down with a feather.

"Hermione," I breathed. "The library?"

She blushed. "Well, this is probably the only chance we'll ever have." And she took my hand and led me, unresistingly, to the deserted library.

"Restricted Section, I think," she said, looking round with a slight frown.

She is brilliant, my girlfriend. The Restricted Section potions books were in a cabinet that was the perfect height to pick her up and sit her on.

Who knew how sexy it could be to kiss her beneath an ancient print showing botched Polyjuice transformations?

"Have you fantasised about this, Hermione?" I asked, nipping at her neck.

"Oh, yes," she breathed, tipping her head back.

"You naughty little bookworm," I chided, unbuttoning her blouse and dropping my face into her cleavage.



She gasped and wriggled closer and I raised my head to capture her lips, burying one hand in her hair while the other cupped her breast.

Why had I never fantasised about this? All those hours Hermione had spent in the library, why had I never thought of ravishing her in here? Well, I certainly would in future. "This was a brilliant idea, Hermione," I murmured and she laughed, her eyes sparkling.

"So, where have you fantasised about?" she asked, gasping as I ran my thumb across her cotton-covered nipple.

"Quidditch changing rooms," I admitted, wondering if I was allowed to slip my fingers inside the bra.

"What on earth would I be doing in the Quidditch changing rooms?" she asked, arching against my hand.

"Rewarding me for winning the Quidditch cup," I explained, deciding that I would just run my fingertips under the edge of the material. "What on earth would I be doing in the library?"

"Ron? Hermione?" came Harry's voice from the library entrance.

"Dammit," Hermione muttered, frantically buttoning her blouse.

"Don't swear, Hermione," I teased, straightening and tucking clothes I hadn't even realised she'd untucked. Clever girl.

"Just a moment, Harry," she called, jumping down from the cabinet. "Coming, Ron?" she asked softly.

I groaned and adjusted my trousers and her eyes flickered down for a second. And, I swear, she smirked.

Exactly why were we taking things slowly? Whose stupid idea was it? Oh, right, mine.

I took several deep breaths, staring at the image of someone who seemed to have Polyjuiced into a half-squid-thing and trying to get things under control. Hermione patted me on the bum, which didn't help, and left.

And I was worried that I'd now find squid a turn-on.

Hermione was calmly showing Harry her research when I sauntered out of the Restricted Section.

He laughed at me. Bastard.

"You finished beating up my sister?" I asked grumpily.

"Yup," he said cheerfully. "You ready to go back down to the village?"

"Yeah, of course," I shrugged and Hermione smiled at me.

The next day the students returned to school and Harry and I couldn't borrow Tonks anymore. Ginny had classes and Remus came and went over the next few weeks.

Harry and I still walked Hermione up to the school each morning, leaving her to her research while we either practised together or went back to the village.

It was odd to be in the school but not in class and we found ourselves avoiding even our old friends, not sure what we had to talk about, not sure where secret missions and turning beetles into buttons overlapped.

But we never let Hermione walk back to the village alone. The afternoons were already dark by five o'clock and we always collected her from the library and went back to the pub together.

A couple of times she read about a particular location that Rowena Ravenclaw had been linked with and the three of us collected our camping gear and spent a few days exploring.

Camping in February wasn't as much fun as camping in August, even in a wizard tent, and we were glad to return to the roaring fires at the Three Broomsticks.

There were no Hogsmeade weekends for the students, but my birthday was on a Sunday and Ginny nagged Professor McGonagall into being allowed to visit us. Tonks brought her and Neville and Luna down into the village and the six of us sat upstairs in Hermione's room with our hands wrapped around warm butterbeers, trying to think of something to talk about.

It seemed that school was too serious for much gossip this year, though Ginny did her best to dredge up things to make us laugh.

Luna was the same as ever, watching us solemnly with her pale eyes.

Neville was grimmer than I'd ever seen him, and I could tell that Hermione was worried about him.

"What are you doing here, Harry?" he finally blurted out, cutting across the story Ginny was telling us about her Charms class.

"Nev, we haven't told anyone what we're doing, not even Professor McGonagall, not even the Ministry," Harry said gently.

"Not even my Mum," I added and there were weak smiles all round.

"But I want to help you Harry," Neville said desperately. "I'm of age. I shouldn't be stuck at school."

Harry's eyes flicked to Ginny and she made a face at him. I knew he was dreading Ginny coming of age and announcing she was coming with us.

"Neville, we're not doing much at the moment, anyway," Harry told him. "We're waiting on Hermione's research."

"What is she looking for?" Neville asked stubbornly.

"Harry," Hermione said, putting her hand on his arm. "It can't hurt to tell them what it is. You even had to tell Mundungus when you were looking for the locket."

Harry threw up his hands. "Fine," he said.

"What is it, Hermione?" Neville asked eagerly. "A weapon?"

"Something that can destroy You Know Who?" asked Ginny.

"Something that can wake him from an enchanted sleep?" asked Luna.

Hermione frowned at her. "No. No, it's something that belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw."

"Like what?" Ginny asked.

Hermione sighed. "That's the problem. We don't know what it is. We have to find something that belonged to her, but I can't find any mention of anything associated with her except for a necklace that she apparently always wore – but I don't even know what it looked like. All the portraits of her show her without it."

"No, they don't," said Luna.

"Yes, they do," insisted Hermione, taking a huge book out of her bag and flicking through it.

We all dutifully looked at the print of a stern-looking and bare-necked woman.

"They're all copies of this portrait," Hermione explained.

"Except for the tapestry," Luna said.

"What tapestry?" Harry asked sharply.

"The tapestry in the Ravenclaw Common Room," Luna explained calmly.

oOoOo