CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

Ron stumbled over his shoes as he walked to the bedroom door. He opened it and looked through half opened eyes at the bushy haired girl standing on the other side. His heart already skipping beats, he smiled and pulled Hermione inside his room, kicking the door shut with his foot. She was wearing those ridiculous pink pajamas Ron found so endearing. It was probably the way she looked so small and innocent in them that sent all of Ron's blood rushing south, leaving none near his head to help him think clearly.

"You look so good," he told her, bending his head down to kiss her neck. She tilted her head to the side to give him better access. "Mmm." More blood south.

"Ron?" Hermione said, taking a step away from him.

"Yeah, love?"

"Harry and Ginny are upstairs" – one pajama button undone – "and I'm quite sure this time we won't be interrupted"—another button gone – "so" – third button undone – "let's give it another try" – last button – "yeah?"

Hermione had officially made it impossible for Ron to think at all. He was sure he was going to explode the moment she reached back and took the pajama top off her shoulders and reached down to untie the drawstring of her pajama bottoms.

"Oh, my god," Ron said. He closed the gap between them and kissed her fervently. He peeled off the rest of their clothes and laid her down on the bed. Her hands were everywhere, his mouth was everywhere, but their minds were only on one thing. Their foreplay stretched on for nearly an hour – Ron made love to her with his mouth, wanting to hear her scream his name which she had never done before. And while she didn't scream, he definitely heard a distinct "ohh, Ron!" escape from her lips. Even after that moment Ron didn't stop loving Hermione's body. She tried to reciprocate but Ron would have none of it, telling Hermione it was because he wanted to pay attention to only her, but, truth was, Ron didn't think he could control himself if he felt so much as a brush of a finger against him.

Continual thoughts of Potions homework and throwing up slugs kept Ron under control. His hands were almost shaking with eagerness as Hermione whispered in his ear, "let's try it again, right now."

Ron licked his lips and felt Hermione's hand on him as she began to guide him inside of her. Her heat… her skin… Ron was not even halfway in when –

"Shit."

"Why did you stop?" Hermione asked, looking up at him with confusion ridden eyes. "What's wrong?"

Ron turned took his weight off her and leaned on his side, breathing in deep. He glanced at Hermione once before wincing and turned completely over so his back was to her. All he said was, "shit."

Hermione held back tears. "What's wrong? Ron! Did I do something wrong?"

"No." Ron closed his eyes so Hermione couldn't make him look at her if she tried.

"Is it me? I mean, did you… change your mind?" she asked, her voice faltering; she didn't know whether or not she really wanted to know the answer.

"No."

"Please, tell me, I want to know the truth. What did I do?"

Ron dug the palms of his hands into his eyes and clicked his tongue against his teeth, trying to decide how to break the news to Hermione. He took in a deep breath and said, a bit louder than he probably should have, "I already came!"

Hermione's silence hurt Ron's ears. He groaned.

"You… came? Before we could—"

"Yes," Ron said.

"Oh." Hermione blushed. She gazed down at Ron's body and the way the last bits of moonlight shone through the windows to his new room and caused the pale skin of his body to become illuminated in a blue glow. At that moment, his face covered with his hands in sheer embarrassment, his knees drawn up to his stomach, his shoulder muscles defined, and the light of his skin… he was beautiful and Hermione loved him even more, despite his shortcomings two minutes before. She laid down behind him and wrapped her arms around his middle and held him as tightly as she could.

"I still love you," she whispered.

She felt him relax a bit, then, but he didn't turn over and look at her. She held on to him while he inhaled his mortification in and out in heavy breaths. A little less than twenty minutes later his breathing evened out and she knew he had fallen asleep.

Harry woke up the next morning and almost laughed. It took him almost four hours to fall asleep and he woke up in a sunlit room less than three hours later but he was overjoyed – he'd actually slept without the help of potions. Ginny stirred next to him and looked over her shoulder at Harry's delighted expression.

"I was wondering when you were going to wake up," she teased. "You've been asleep forever."

"Brat." Harry kissed her quickly on the mouth and jumped out of bed. "Oi!" he cried out, forgetting he had gone to bed in naught but his boxers. He threw on his clothes from the night before and shoved his feet inside his trainers.

"Better?"

"A bit. I'm going to get my things and take a shower downstairs. It'd probably be best if we were quiet… I don't fancy your brother knowing I slept here all night."

"We didn't do anything, though," Ginny said, sitting up, her red hair falling over her shoulders.

"Ron would never believe that. And what difference does that make? We do stuff every other night?" Harry flashed her a smile. "Shower time. See you downstairs? I'm starved."

Ginny nodded. After Harry shut her door behind him she stretched and yawned and looked out her window. All she could see was the country side. She went to the bathroom and found a stack of towels hanging neatly on a rack on the wall. Stripping, Ginny turned on the shower and stepped in, steaming up the entire bathroom. She felt refreshed and energized after washing the soap off her body. She thought about sleeping in Harry's arms as the water lapped over her skin.

Somewhere inside of herself she knew that Harry was going to survive this. She had a gut feeling, woman's intuition, whatever, about it. Somehow she just knew Harry wasn't going to die in this fight. It was a comforting thought, but as she fell asleep in his arms last night, thinking, she realized that part of her was still sad because that intuition-gut-feeling also told her she wasn't going to be the one lying in Harry's arms forever. Someone else would take over her job and she would have to go find strong, warm arms elsewhere.

It wasn't a pleasant thought, especially since Ginny gave up her desire to be with one lover, like the rest of her brothers (save George, of course) for Harry. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe when a Weasley mated, they mated for life – her parents had. Bill, Charlie, Percy, and Fred all had. And whenever Ron finally shagged Hermione he'd join those rankings – Ginny's intuition told her enough about Ron and Hermione to know that there would be several red headed kids running around calling the two of them mum and dad. So, maybe she would end up with Harry in the end for the rest of her life. But, hugging her arms around her middle, she was sure Harry would survive against Voldemort, she just wasn't sure he'd survive her.

Wrapping herself up in a towel after her shower, Ginny gathered up her pajamas and walked back to her room.

After having dressed in jeans and a white jumper Ginny skipped down the stairs, eager for breakfast. Harry was already in the kitchen bent over a bowl.

"What are you eating?"

"Cereal."

"Cereal?"

Harry nodded. "Haven't you ever had cereal?"

"No…"

"Oh, I guess it's a Muggle thing, then. Here." Harry stood up and got another bowl and spoon from a cabinet. He poured out cereal and milk from where the box and carton were sitting on the table and handed it to Ginny. "Eat up!"

Ginny dipped her spoon in and ate. She smiled slightly. "I like that you're so adept in Muggle ways."

"Ah, yes, that's what comes with being raised by them for eleven years. This is really lunch, though – it's past noon."

"I didn't realize I slept that late."

"Morning," Hermione said, appearing at the bottom of the stairs dressed and ready for the day. Her eyes looked tired and she had on a jumper of Ron's that fit her like a dress. "I rather like not having to wear a uniform, I think. My legs don't get so cold." Hermione sat down at the table and looked back and forth between Harry and Ginny. "Isn't Ron down here?"

"I haven't seen him," Harry answered. "I haven't checked around, though. Maybe he's still sleeping."

"No, I checked his room after my shower. He wasn't there. I looked around but he wasn't upstairs."

"Then, he has to be here somewhere. It's not like he can just leave the house," Ginny said, finishing up her cereal. She pushed the empty bowl towards Harry. "Would you?" she asked.

Harry smiled and nodded. He used his wand to levitate the bowl to the sink. "You'll have to start the Cleaning Charm on the dishes, Hermione," Harry said, trying to catch Hermione's eye. "Last time I did it I broke nearly all the dishes."

Hermione nodded. "All right."

"Aren't you going to eat breakfast, Hermione?" Ginny asked.

"I'm not really hungry."

Ginny studied her friend's face. Hermione had a far away look in her eye and she seemed to be a hundred miles north instead of in Lupin's house with her feet planted safely on the ground. Ginny turned her eyes to Harry.

"Will you go find Ron?" Ginny asked.

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Sure…"

"I need to talk to Hermione about girl stuff."

Harry lifted up his hands. "Believe me, I don't want to hear about girl stuff. I should probably practice my Shield Charms. Maybe I'll tell Ron I shagged his sister for eight hours so he'll try to hex me. How many curses do you think I could block?"

"Oh, Harry, don't joke about things like that," Ginny said sternly. "You know if you say that to Ron there will only be one curse he'll throw at you."

Harry stood up from the table, laughing. He walked out of the kitchen and into the dining room in search of Ron. He found his red headed mate sitting in the corner of the room on a cushion reading a book.

"What are you doing?" Harry demanded, towering over Ron from his standing position.

"Just looking up curses. You know, just in case."

"Hermione was looking for you," Harry told Ron, sitting down in front of his friend and crossing his legs in front of him. "She seemed a bit distant, like she just woken up from having one of your mother's special tea blends to 'calm the nerves.'"

"I don't want to talk about it," Ron answered.

"Hey, I don't care. I don't want you to tell me."

Ron glanced up from his book at Harry. "All right, then."

"All right." Harry waited. He hoped if he sat there long enough Ron would break and tell him what was up with Hermione's strange behavior, but Ron's eyes didn't look up from the book. After almost five minutes Harry's patience and attention span were wearing quite thin. "Okay, fine, I lied, tell me."

"No."

"Please?"

Ron shook his head. His eyes glided over the words on the page in front of him but he was trying to formulate a good story in his mind to tell Harry so the boy would shut up. He couldn't stand the way Harry stared at him, waiting. It was unnerving.

"All right, fine," Ron snapped. "Before you and Seamus came to my door earlier last night I was this close to shagging Hermione. I mean, I was there. And, now, I'm pissed that I didn't get to. Now, leave me alone."

"Ah, I see." Harry nodded. "That's rough. Bad times to be interrupted during a shag."

"I don't want to hear about it from you."

"Well… tell me when it happens."

Ron nearly dropped his book. "Tell you? I thought you didn't want to know anything about me and Hermione."

Harry shrugged. "Yeah, but just telling me you shagged isn't really detailed. Besides, the boys back in Gryffindor sort of have a pool going on about when you'll finally do it. Personally, my day is Valentine's Day so I'd like to know if I was right."

"I knew there was an ulterior motive."

"Want to practice some Shield Charms?"

Ron nodded, even though a bit taken aback by the quick change in subject. "Yeah, sure."

"Tell me," Ginny said to Hermione.

Hermione snapped out of her reverie. "Tell you what?"

"What's wrong. You're in the most bizarre daze." Ginny narrowed her eyes. "You and my brother didn't shag, did you?"

Hermione shook her head before licking her lips and laughing almost hysterically. "It's not funny, really. We've tried a couple of times to have sex"—Hermione had to stop talking to take in a couple of deep breaths between chuckles. "We're always interrupted by something and last night in Ron's new room we tried and then…" Hermione laughed again. "He came! He came! He came." Hermione tried to sober herself up. "It's awful to be laughing and telling you! I'm a horrible person! He was so embarrassed I think he almost cried. Oh, I shouldn't be telling you this – tell me to stop."

"Slow down. My brother tried to shag you but he came? You mean, before you had sex?"

Hermione nodded.

Ginny looked at Hermione for a moment before covering her mouth with her hand and letting out a giant laugh of her own.

"No, it's more of a swift arm movement," Hermione corrected as Harry tried to do a particularly difficult Transfiguration spell. She demonstrated the move for him for a third time. "Try again. Down and over… and up and down." Hermione groaned. "No, no, no."

Harry threw up his hands in exasperation. "I don't know why I'm trying to learn this bloody spell for anyway. If I'm going to use my time here for anything good I might as well hone myself up on my Dark Arts spells and Shield Charms – which is what Ron and I were doing before the two of you barged in here to try and make this into some official lesson thing."

Ginny furrowed her eyebrows from where she was seated on a large red cushion. After her good laugh with Hermione they went into the old dining room to see what the boys were up to. Ginny, not being allowed to do magic, sat herself down on the cushions to watch the others. Ron gave up listening to Hermione teach Transfiguration and sat down next to Ginny. His sister tried awfully hard not to look at him, for fear she would begin to laugh if she did.

"I did not mean to make this an official lesson! What if you need to Transfigure something while you're battling Voldemort again? What if you need a – a – a sword or what if you got hurt and needed a sling or a splint. You'll feel foolish then if you can't Transfigure or conjure up something as simple as that."

Harry rubbed his eyes. "I need a break." He collapsed on the cushions next to Ginny. He laid back and looked up at the ceiling. "It's no fun having no adult supervision if all I'm going to do is learn Transfiguration," Harry mumbled, low enough that Hermione couldn't hear him from where she sat herself down against the wall, a book in her hands.

"Take a break," Ron suggested. "You don't always have to study."

"I'm not studying," Hermione said. "I'm reading a novel."

"Now?"

"I was finished with half of it last term when that little fifth year Slytherin asked if she could borrow it, promising she'd have it finished within a week. I gave it to her, overlooking the fact that she's a Slytherin and probably hates me because I'm a Mudblood, because Dumbledore wanted interhouse unity. Errr! That little witch only gave it back to me last week."

"Wow, sorry I asked," Ron mumbled. "Which Slytherin."

"Oh, that girl with the straight black hair… Rebecca. She kept telling me she was going to read chapter twenty two but she kept putting it off and putting it off." Hermione sighed. "But, I have my book back now and I can go back to reading it."

Ron smiled to himself. It was kind of sexy how flushed Hermione got when she became worked up over something as simple as a book. Even though, Ron was too embarrassed about the night before to look at her.

"I don't think I know a Slytherin named Rebecca," Harry said.

"Sure you do," Ginny said. "She dated Malfoy for a little bit when he broke up with Pansy. She's a prefect for Slytherin."

Harry nodded. "You're right. That's one thing I don't miss here – and that's Malfoy. Disgusting git. I hope I never have to see him again. He'll be in Azkaban with the other Death Eaters if I have anything to do with it."

A loud CRACK! made them all jump. Harry quickly stood up and dashed into the lounge to see what news Professor Lupin had for them today.

"Hello, Harry." Lupin smiled at Harry. "What have you lot been up to today?"

"A bit of Defense Against the Dark Arts," Harry said truthfully. "Ron and I were working on Shield Charms."

"Hello, all," Lupin said to Ginny, Ron, and Hermione as they walked into the room behind Harry. "I have some notes for you from your parents. They wrote them to me and referred to me throughout the letters so it might take a bit of un-coding to figure out what they mean… Just a precaution in case the owls were intercepted. For, you, Hermione, Minerva sends a stack of notes she thought you might like… She said you'd know what they were when you got them." Lupin rustled in his robes pocket for a large stack of parchments tied together with string. He handed them to Hermione. Her eyes went wide with awe.

"Only Hermione would get excited about school notes," Ron muttered to Harry, who smirked.

"And for Harry I have a book on wandless shields. Might prove to be useful. I cannot stay long today but perhaps next weekend we shall work on them together. If you could learn to throw up a shield without your wand and use it instead to cast a spell…" Lupin didn't need to finish the sentence in order for Harry to understand.

"Sir, what's going on with the Order and with Voldemort? We don't even have the Daily Prophet to keep up with any attacks," Hermione said.

"I'll try to save any copies lying around school that I can find." Lupin cleared his throat. "I do have some news though regarding Voldemort and the Order. But, ah, it might be best if you all sit down for this. It might come as a bit of a shock."

The four of them squeezed together on the couch, looking up at their professor with questions dancing in their eyes.

"Now, Professor McGonagall told you that a student sent a message that Voldemort was going to come after you? Which is how we knew to send you lot to a safe house. That student's father is a Death Eater and a very prominent one at that. All of his activities have been observed by his son and then relayed to Snape who has, in turn, shared the information with the Order. The student is fully aware where the information is going. Unfortunately, I daresay, the only person Voldemort told of his plan to come to Hogwarts was to this boy's father and by sheer process of elimination, it was deduced that the boy has been an informant and, now, his life is very much in danger. He'll have to come here to stay until Voldemort is gone as well. He can stay in the extra bedroom – assuming you all have chosen separate bedrooms and have left only one unoccupied?"

Harry couldn't miss the mischievous twinkle in the Professor eyes, nor could he miss the sinking feeling in his stomach that the new addition to Chez Lupin wasn't going to be a pleasant one.

"Hopefully no one else will have to join the house. The rooms are a bit small, I know, to double bunk you if it comes to that. Although… I do suppose you could always take the basement as an extra bedroom…"

"There's a basement?" Ginny asked, a bit excited. "Where?"

"Oh, it's hidden. I daresay you won't be able to find it very easily." Lupin checked his watch. "Almost time now…"

"Sir, please tell me the student isn't…"

A loud CRACK! and in the center of the lounge stood a tall, lithe, blonde haired boy in his silver and green Hogwarts uniform, a scowl plastered to his face. Harry groaned, Ron closed his eyes, Hermione gasped, and Ginny gritted her teeth.

"…Malfoy."

To Be Continued…

A/N: Yeah, so I have a Beta at Checkmated who gives me really good editing advice with this story. Unfortunately she cannot give me the turn around time for edited chapters when I want to post them up here on FanFiction. I know my stories are probably riddled with mistakes – tell me if you'd rather have an edited chapter that takes 3 or 4 days to update or a mistake-ful chapter quicker.

Oh, yeah, 275 is AWFULLY close to 300, don't you think??? :)