Disclaimer: I don't own the characters in this story, it's just more of my active romance imagination going wild!

Enjoy, my loyal readers and thank you for the reviews on my previous two fanfics!!!

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The morning after

'Oh, God! My head,' Ron groaned as he sat up, 'coming of age isn't all it's cracked up to be.' Yesterday had been his 17th birthday. As a result of this he had ended up downing a lethal amount of alcohol and therefore, he couldn't remember a thing about the night before.

He closed his eyes and rubbed his head. The sun was streaming in through his bedroom window as he sat up on the carpeted floor.

What had actually happened last night?

Ron opened his eyes in confusion when he heard a yawn beside him. Looking round he was shocked to find Hermione lying on the floor next to him. It didn't help the situation when he saw that she was wearing only a cami top and her underwear. Likewise, he was sitting there in his boxers.

'Oh my god!' he thought, 'what the hell happened?'

As Hermione turned over and opened her eyes she recoiled in bewilderment and gasped when she saw him, 'oh god,' she gabbled, 'we didn't… I wasn't… Ron?'

'Yes, Hermione.'

'What happened? I can't remember anything beyond a certain point,' she fumbled to get her trousers on.

'How far do you remember?' Ron leapt up to grab his shirt and pulled it over his head.

'There were the three of us, laughing, joking, drinking a bit. Then Harry suddenly said he was going to leave, he left and you offered me another drink,' she buttoned up the shirt that Ron had thrown to her from across the room, 'after that it all goes a bit fuzzy. What about you?'

'That's all I can remember too,' Ron grasped at his forehead, 'god, how much did we drink last night?' he looked over at a pile of bottles in the corner of his room, 'don't answer that.'

'Ron. We didn't, you know, do anything stupid did we?' Hermione sat down on the floor and leaned against Ron's bed.

'Of course not,' he replied in the most laid-back tone that he could muster, he sat down next to her, 'I hope.'

They both looked around the room. It was a mess. A chessboard and pieces strewn across the floor, things from shelves and his desk had been knocked over and onto the ground and some were even broken.

'Cut it out Ron,' Hermione laughed,' your mum will be furious if she finds out what went on up here. Especially when it's me involved.'

'Just relax and have a bit of fun.'

They both edged a few centimetres away from each other. The evidence was mounting against them and was telling them something they didn't want to know.

So this was how Harry found them 30 minutes later as he apparated into Ron's room cheerfully, 'Hey! Sorry I left early last night… what the hell is wrong with you two?'

Ron looked up at him slowly, 'Harry? What exactly happened last night?'

'Well I can only tell you as far as I know to. We were all celebrating your birthday up here and things were going fine. Then you suggested chess and I didn't feel like trying to beat you when you were alcohol fuelled so I made my excuses and left you two setting up the chessboard and throwing back another bottle.'

'Just chess?' Ron quizzed.

'I know,' said Ron, slightly inebriated, 'Strip chess. Small garments for pawns, larger garments for main players.'

'That is ridiculous,' replied Hermione just as intoxicated, 'oh, ok! Why not.'

'Oh my god,' Hermione gasped, 'I remember!' She turned to Ron, 'you suggested strip chess and I agreed… god, I WAS drunk!'

'Well, that explains the lack of clothes,' replied Ron logically.

'Whoa, whoa, whoa,' Harry said in an entertained tone of voice, 'strip chess? And you agreed to it, Hermione?'

Hermione shot him an irritated look as if to say that this was neither the time nor the place to argue with her over this. He continued, 'so did anything happen between you two?'

Ron put his head in his hands, 'that's the problem. We really have no idea.'

'Thing is,' Hermione cut in, 'if nothing happened between us then how did the room get in such a state? We were drunk, anything could have happened. I hate to be the one to say it, but if we had kissed or anything then putting alcohol in the equation means that we could have been either passionate or clumsy.'

Ron looked up and the tips of his ears went pink, he had never thought of that and now he was beginning to become convinced that something must have happened.

There was no other explanation. They were both intoxicated and had lost control of their senses. There was no Hogwarts, you-know-who was back, there were horcruxes that needed to be found and unconsciously they needed someone more than ever.

These life-threatening problems had brought them closer together and last night they must have been overcome with passion and want of someone to be close to.

Ron could imagine the two of them squabbling over a game of chess, Hermione stood up in outrage and Ron followed in the usual fashion when they were alone together. They were inches apart, anger turned to passion and they ended up kissing out of pure spontaneity.

Kissing and moving from one part of the room to the next, knocking things off shelves as they went, they woke up on the floor next to each other. Being drunk would have been the best way to face the facts, deny it afterwards and still be friends.

'You know,' Harry piped up, 'we can legally do magic outside of school now seeing as there is in fact no school to be out of…'

'Get to the point Harry,' said Hermione.

'I can use a charm on each of you so that you can find out what happened. The Areoli charm, it puts you into a coma and can be set to dig up memories from a particular period of time. You will remember everything you've seen afterwards.'

'Great!' said Ron, 'I'm in, anything to put my mind at rest and tell me that nothing happened.'

Hermione shot him a hurt look, 'would it be so bad if something had happened?'

'Well, no but… well… you know… it'd be difficult otherwise,' Ron continued in a rushed mutter, 'it wouldn't have been special and we would be remembering it through a charm and not through experience.'

Only Hermione picked up on it, even though it was Ron's intention for her not to, and decided to pursue it after they found out what had really happened.

They were both told to lie on the floor, uncomfortably reminiscent to that morning. Harry then pointed his wand at each of them and uttered to phrase, 'Areoli Contatus 12 hours ago.'

Their eyes closed and their minds opened to twelve hours previous, 10:15pm, Ron's room just seconds before Harry left.

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Aha! Guess you'll just have to wait and see what happened! Please read and review then I'll update in a week's time after my holiday.