Just a piece of good old fluffiness I came up with partly inspired by a post about OTPs napping. I wrote this back in November, meant to be posted as a present to my November-born fellows, but never got around to post it. Thanks a lot to jenahid for beta-reading this!

Disclaimer: JKR owns Ron and Hermione, and I don't even get a cuddle.

Unwinding

Hermione Apparated into the hallway of hers and Ron's flat, her head spinning. It was a miracle she hadn't splinched herself. Her brain was buzzing, making mental notes of the things she had to do, planning the rest of her week and adding items to a shopping list she had yet to write down. And it was only Wednesday.

She whimpered, pressing thumb and index fingers to the bridge of her nose while attempting to clear her mind for a couple of seconds and focus only on the present tasks. It was of little help: her immediate tasks involved finishing her part of household chores for the day, which she felt in no state for doing, and thinking what they were going to have for dinner. The lack of aromas and noises wafting from the kitchen indicated it was on her tonight.

As she walked into the combined living/dining room, Hermione felt the weight of the day's work bearing down on her; she would have liked nothing more than to go straight to bed. It was simply not possible, though; there were things she had to get on with today, and there was also Ron. He'd want to have dinner, even if they settled for takeaway, and he most certainly wouldn't let her skip a meal.

When her mind caught up with what her eyes were seeing, Hermione frowned. Ron's paperwork was all over the small coffee table, but he was nowhere in sight; there were no noises from the bathroom, either, to indicate that he was taking a shower.

There was, however, a piece of paper hovering right above the table. She took it, hoping he hadn't gone out or been called in an emergency back to the Ministry. Four days from now, Ron was going on one of his first missions after finishing the Auror training program, and he had been studying the suspects' profiles, memorizing maps of the location where they were hiding, and going over the mission's tactics all week, in addition to training every two days to be in optimum physical condition. Hermione thought she should be able to have him for herself at least a few hours a day.

Years of looking over Harry and Ron's homework had trained her to identify the scratches before her as the type of scrawl Ron's writing deviated into when he was particularly tired.

Hermione,

Knackered after training today. I mean to take some of this stuff to read in bed but I know that's a terrible idea. Wake me up when you get here and I'll go get dinner.

Love, Ron

At least he was home. Hermione dropped her bag onto the sofa before going to their bedroom.

Ron was sprawled diagonally over the bedspread, wearing a ratty Chudley Cannons T-shirt and a pair of tracksuit bottoms; his notes were abandoned on the pillow next to his head, and he had draped an arm over his eyes to block the light from the lamp. Hermione stared at him tenderly. His mouth was half open, and soft snores escaped through it as his chest heaved up and down. The scars on his arms glowed white under the light, surrounded by freckles. As much as she loved to simply watch him sleeping, the sight was too tempting.

Hermione pulled her robes over her head, stripping down to shirt and knickers, set her wand on the night table, and carefully lowered herself on top of Ron, snuggling her face against his neck.

He woke up with a start, half rising, until he noticed the mass of brown hair right under his nose. Ron relaxed then, falling back down onto the mattress and placing his arms around her.

'Hey.'

'Hi.'

'Sorry 'bout the mess on the coffee table. What time's it? D'you want me to go get something to eat?'

'No, not yet.'

'Hard day at work?' Ron asked, soothingly rubbing his hands up and down her back.

'Yes. You too?'

'Uh-huh. They want to make sure we're ready for Sunday, but I feel like I won't have any strength left if we keep up. They're giving us tomorrow and Saturday off, though, last training drills on Friday.'

'That's good.'
'George's giving me Saturday off, too,' Ron continued. 'I'll still have to go over all this information again, but I'll be all yours.'

Hermione smiled against his neck.

'That's really, really good.'

'So what do you want to do now? You don't want to have anything to eat? We probably should... And you won't do any work tonight?' Ron's voice was tinged with incredulity. Hermione had been busting her arse ever since she'd got the job, trying to prove herself worthy of it, even if the big changes she was aiming for hadn't happened yet. 'I mean, I think it's great, but maybe we should get you checked at St Mungo's, just in case.'

She pinched his arm softly.

'I just need to unwind for a bit. Thought we could lay down here a moment before going back to all the responsibilities. Can we do that?'

'So we stay here for a bit.'

'In silence.'

'We lay here in silence.'

'And you hold me.'

'I'll hold you,' Ron repeated, wrapping his long arms and legs around Hermione and squirming to make them both more comfortable. 'Yeah, I think we can do that.'