AN: I know this is a really short chapter. I wanted to get you guys something before the
weekend. I won't be able to work on anything after tonight until Monday so I've got to get everything updated tonight. Hopefully, this little filler chapter will hold you over until then. Title is from Lady Gaga.
Disclaimer: I do not own or profit from Harry Potter or its related properties.
Formatting and grammar updated 8/26/18
A-Yo
Hermione woke up wrapped around Charlie on the floor next to the cot in the backroom of the on-call cabin. How, exactly, they'd gotten there she wasn't sure. There had been shots and beer. Then, Simon had produced another bottle of firewhisky. She had vague recollections of wrestling Charlie over the last bit of ice cream. Not her finest hour. Sometime after that, she'd lost track of the night. This was not a habit she wanted to continue building on. She did not recall how she'd gotten from the cot onto the floor, though she did remember climbing into the cot alone at some point. She was especially confused as to why Charlie did not wake her and had settled down on the floor with her instead. She noticed they both were still dressed, so she didn't think anything had happened. With a groan, she tried to extricate herself from the tangle of limbs. The effort only made him cling to her tighter, defeating the entire purpose of trying to rise.
She was fairly certain she was late for work based on the light filtering through the curtains. Her head throbbed, her back was sore from sleeping on the floor, and she was sticky. She did not like feeling sticky. She wondered when the next team was due at the cabin and if she had enough time to make an escape before they noticed who she was with. She shoved against the wall of Charlie and half-heartedly tried to tug herself out of his embrace.
"Alana called you out sick two hours ago, stop squirming," he grumbled into the top of her head.
"What?" She croaked.
"You don't have work today. Alana owled Jan and told her you were not feeling well and that she was keeping an eye on you."
"Why?"
"Probably because there's no anti-hangover potion left in the cabin and you had more shots than someone as tiny as you should be able to drink and still live?" He grumbled, still half asleep.
"Why am I sticky?"
"Ice cream," he answered as if that in any way answered her question.
"Charlie, I've got…" he put a hand over her mouth and shushed her.
"No one uses the on-call cabin during the day so the staff from the night before can sleep. Be quiet and go back to sleep." He snuggled into her, intent on going back to sleep.
"Can we at least get back on the cot?" She sighed, it didn't seem worth fighting about. He grunted in agreement and untangled himself, crawling up onto the cot and rolling onto his side. He pulled her back down when she stood and trapped her under his arm and leg.
"Charlie," she bolted upright and shook him.
"Hmph," he grumbled, starting to stir.
"I think somebody is here…" she hissed, straining to identify the voices that had woken her.
"What?" He sat up and slowly focused on what she was saying, scrubbing the sleep from his face.
"I hear voices in the other room."
"Shite. Don't leave." He climbed out over her and slipped out of the room, closing the door firmly behind him.
She couldn't really hear what was being said in the other room. She could make out four male voices, only recognizing two of them. She held her breath and tried to piece together what was being said. She heard a bark of unfamiliar laughter followed by a fumbling at the door. She jumped as it was pushed open and quickly snapped closed again. The colour drained from her cheeks as the laughter continued. Did they know she was here? She swallowed and jumped to her feet, preparing to apparate away. The door opened again, this time Charlie slipped back in.
"Sorry! Complete arses. They're gone, don't worry about it…" he walked over and wrapped his arms around her, his lips moving to her pulse point.
"Charlie…" she groaned, half-heartedly trying to push him away.
"You smell like ice cream." He chuckled into her neck.
"Shut it, Weasley. I get the feeling that is very much your fault."
"Might have been." She could hear the smirk in his voice.
"I need a shower." She leaned away from him, blocking his next advance.
"Need any help?" He teased with a waggle of his eyebrows.
"I think we need to have a discussion about how all of this is going to work before we go sharing any more showers." She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I can meet you at yours in an hour." He offered with a disappointed sigh.
"I'll make lunch." She said before twisting herself away.
It took nearly twenty minutes to untangle her hair. Whatever he'd done to get the ice cream all over her neck, it was also matted into her curls. She grumbled to herself as she worked through the last of it and debated the merits of cutting it all off. The anti-hangover potion she'd taken when she first arrived hadn't helped with much, she'd waited too long to take it. Back in clean clothes and freshly showered she was starting to feel a little bit better, even if her head did still hurt. She slowly made her way to the kitchen and made up a few chicken sandwiches as she waited for Charlie. His arrival was announced with a loud pop, making her wince.
"You and the twins apparate louder than anyone I have ever met." She complained, handing him a plate.
"It started as a joke, but then we couldn't stop." He shrugged it off, immediately digging into the sandwiches and salad she'd piled on his plate.
"I hope your head hurts as badly as mine does. Especially given how long it took me to get all that ice cream out of my hair…" she scowled at him over her own food.
"I'm not all that sorry for that." He laughed, grimacing when it made his own head hurt.
"So…" She set her food down and leaned across the island to look at him.
"So?" He countered, setting his own plate down on the island.
"How are we going to handle this?" She indicated between the two of them, trying to encompass all of the situation in a simple hand gesture.
"Well… that depends." He leaned onto his elbows, a contemplative look on his face.
"Depends on what?"
"Who you get partnered with. If you end up with me, we can't do anything until after your probation. If you get somebody else, we can figure something out."
"I was under the impression I got to pick my own partner… Alana said…" she shook her head in confusion.
"Alana didn't give you all the information. You can request a specific partner, but it doesn't mean Henry will pair you with them. Even if you request somebody else, he still might put us together."
"Damn." She muttered.
"Yeah."
"Well, in the meantime what are we going to do? I don't exactly want to stop…" She worried her bottom lip, looking up at him through her lashes.
"We have to be more careful in public. Apparently, we're pretty obvious." He crossed around to her side of the island, trapping her between his arms.
"At the very least I am. Every time I do something stupid somebody finds out…" she ran her hands up his arms.
"Guess you're going to have to stop doing stupid stuff then." He leaned over and kissed her neck.
"Oh, haha. It's not on purpose you great git." She gasped as he gently bit down.
"At least I'm great." He mumbled into her, working at re-marking her skin.
"You're infuriating." She moaned, trying to move his mouth away.
"But you can't get enough of me."
"Says who?" She tried to fake indignation, but the moan he drew out of her when his hands massaged her chest betrayed her.
"Says the fact that you aren't calling the whole thing off…" He pulled her shirt off, kissing across her chest.
"Do you want to? Call things off, that is?" She barely got the words out.
"Not a chance." He growled, lifting her onto the island.
"I think we need to keep a buffer between us in public. You get handsy."
"What, like this?" He ran his hands up and down her thighs, ghosting over her heated center.
"Mmmhmm..." She moaned, closing her eyes.
"We keep it behind locked doors from now on. No more flirting, no more touching…" His fingers began to work open the button on her jeans, she shimmied to help him pull them off her.
"What about the on-call cabin?" She pulled his shirt off and started to work on his belt.
"Probably fine as long as no one drops in…" She interrupted him with a deep kiss.
"Anything we're forgetting?" She panted, pulling back slightly.
"Hmmm. There's one thing. You can say 'no', and we won't change anything." He was fiddling with the waistband on her knickers, running his lips over the shell of her ear.
"What is it?" She pushed him back slightly, noting his eyes were as dilated as she imagined hers were.
"I don't want to be with other people. Not unless you're going to start dating someone. I don't want to share…" He huffed, stepping out of his jeans without breaking eye contact.
"I think that'd be okay…" she nodded. She'd been starting to think the same thing.
"Good. Lie back." His smile was wolfish as he helped guide her back before sliding off her knickers and diving in with his tongue.
