Hi again! I'm back with a short smutty smutty fic. A big thank you to Accio-Broom for being an amazing beta. If you haven't checked out her fics yet, you need to head to her page asap. I am currently all about her fic 'Change Your Mind.'
Hope you enjoy! Reviews are always welcome and appreciated!
Chapter 1:
It had been nearly a year and a half since the Battle of Hogwarts, and for the most part, life had returned to normal. After all the funerals, Hermione travelled to Australia for her parents, Ron and Harry began Auror training. Once home, Hermione finished her last year at Hogwarts, every one of their close friends was working, trying to come to terms with everything they'd experienced.
Many attended therapy regularly, but everyone's coping strategy differed. Hermione threw herself back into school, and after that, her work at the Ministry. Harry spent far too much alone time with Ginny than Ron felt was necessary, especially now that he was also staying at Grimmauld Place. Ron coped through copious amounts of exercise, running and lifting weights nearly every day.
Beyond that though, after all of their friends had graduated, getting together with family and friends took on an entirely new meaning. No one took it for granted. Everyone wanted to relive the time they spent together back when they were all in the Gryffindor Common Room together or in the Great Hall.
Despite the official ceremonies and remembrances, on the first anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry invited many of his closest friends to Grimmauld Place for a memorial and honorary reunion — to drink, commiserate and reconnect after a long year of healing. That one get-together turned into another, and another and another.
Before long, on the first and third Friday of each month, everyone would get together at Harry's house for a night of drinking and relaxation. It was the perfect opportunity to let loose and forget about real life, if just for a few hours. The party seemed to have grown beyond only Gryffindors and close friends and encompassed many friends of friends and strangers that had fought during the battle or went to Hogwarts. It felt as if each month, their impromptu reunion allowed them to remember the good of school rather than what was lost and overcome after.
Tonight was the first Friday of the month, and tonight's party was on fire. The music vibrated as every room on the bottom level of Grimmauld Place was filled to the brim with loud laughter, random snogging up against walls, and dancing and chanting. Harry had prided himself on making the place welcoming, despite still being unable to stop the portrait of Walburga Black, Sirius's mother, screaming profanities at the party-goers. It had quickly become a game of how angry guests could make her. Seamus Finnigan was the reigning champ, causing her to voluntarily leave her post at the portrait one night.
Each room seemed to have a different atmosphere. Ginny was often found doing a keg stand with Seamus and Dean near the kitchen. Harry liked to filter through the space, chatting amicably with new visitors and old friends.
Ron remained rooted in the same place he was every Friday — in the Library. Hermione chuckled at the irony. Tonight, she curled up on an oversized plush chair next to the floor to ceiling bookshelves, flipping through one of the magical encyclopedias, while Ron sat on a stool nearby, facing off against Ernie McMillan. Hermione glanced up to see Ernie flushed, his face contorted quizzically, staring down at the Chessboard and trying desperately to find a way out of the trap Ron had caught him in.
"Not again?" Harry whined as he walked into the room. Ron took a sip of Butterbeer from his solo cup and crossed his arms in satisfaction.
"We're about to have another naked party-goer." Ron chuckled.
"Ron." Harry chastised.
"What?" He chuckled. "Would you rather see me lose and walk starkers around the party all night?"
Harry rolled his eyes. Hermione quickly looked back down at her book, avoiding eye contact with Ron.
"You could at least get drunk before you start playing," Harry complained.
"What makes you think I'm not?" Ron smiled back at him.
You see, this was not an ordinary game of Chess. After a few months of winning every Chess game during party-night, Ron was getting cockier and cockier until it became the job of brave visitors to face up against him at the risk of losing their clothes. The game: Strip Chess.
It had been nearly four months of this, and still to this day, nobody had check-mated Ron. Chess friends across London would face off with Ron, just to prove that they could beat him. They would come to the Chessboard with extra layers of clothes, ready to face off. Ron's devious smile and confidence in the game always seemed to set them on edge, and by the end, random strangers would be walking around the party scantily clad and sometimes in no clothes at all.
Ron pushed his knight into place with a smirk, "...aaand checkmate."
Ernie's eyes widened, looking around the board. "Shit." he huffed.
Hermione glanced at the board, knowing from the beginning Ernie had made a few fatal mistakes that would have led to his loss sooner or later.
In this particular game, Ron had only lost his shoes. Otherwise, he was fully clothed. Ernie, on the other hand, was in his boxers. Hermione watched as Ernie stood up, shook Ron's hand and grabbed his clothes.
"And what do you say?" Ron grinned at Ernie. Hermione rolled her eyes, shifting in her chair and avoiding the almost entirely bare Ernie now standing and looking dissatisfied.
"Weasley is my King." Ernie drawled.
"Very good! Better luck next time."
Ron leaned back and looked over at Hermione with a satisfied grin. Hermione gave him a sideways glance indicating that she was unimpressed. It didn't stop his chest from puffing up.
Hermione found herself spending most of her time at these parties with Ron in the Library. Her excuse was that she was always there anyway. If she were truly honest with herself, though, her curiosity of what clothes Ron might remove kept her frozen in place every Friday night.
Hermione's mind wandered back to the gravity-defying kiss they'd had in the Room of Requirement during the Battle of Hogwarts. She thought back to it often as it was one of the rare occasions that she had thrown caution to the wind.
Hermione had taken a considerable risk kissing him and was hoping that after the war, he would know where she stood and take the next step. Unfortunately, after that, there was no time for them to connect. They were either organizing and participating in funerals, documenting their time on the Horcrux Hunt with the Ministry, answering questions for the Daily Prophet, rebuilding Hogwarts, or visiting families who'd lost someone or required comfort. By the time they'd had a chance to breathe, it was time for Hermione to head off to Hogwarts and Ron and Harry to start Auror training.
Ron had given her a lingering kiss on the cheek at the train station, but it just didn't seem right for either of them to share their feelings at that point. It would have been much harder to say goodbye. Without words, they both agreed to keep things friendly. They had remained great friends during that entire year, writing regularly to each other, but neither of them mentioned the kiss or their relationship. During her most lonely days at Hogwarts, Hermione was sure she had made up the entire thing. Maybe she had blacked out and imagined she'd kissed him. Perhaps it was all in her mind.
After graduation, and after they all had started working at the Ministry together, life got busy, and they didn't quite know how to shift back from the safety of their friendship to something more. It was as if their fear of messing up their friendship suddenly went into hyperdrive, and all they could do was flirt innocently with one another every day during lunch.
Harry would send her nauseating looks every once in a while when she was laying it on thick, but it was tough spending time with Ron every day without wanting to rip off his shirt and snog him senseless. This was especially difficult after he got back from training, and his body had transformed into something that Hermione could only have imagined in her darkest, most seductive fantasies.
"Anyone else? Or am I the reigning champ again?" Ron announced to the cluster of partygoers milling about.
A few confident souls stepped forward, then thought better of it, ducked their heads, and looked away.
"Oi! Come now! There's got to be at least one person who's not afraid to lose their clothes to me?"
Hermione had been listening to his boisterous attitude at every single party. She'd kept her cool, but it wasn't in her to let Ron get so full of himself before putting him in check, though she did love to see this confident side of him. If he would just use that confidence to grab her, shove her up against the bookshelf and snog her senseless, she would let it all go. Unfortunately, she had no such luck. Instead, he was going out of his way to be obnoxious.
Unbeknownst to Ron, Hermione always knew how to balance him out, though her tactics were usually through preparation. She had contemplated waiting one more month to challenge him, not having spent as much time as she thought she needed to fully prepare for his strategic mind and years of experience. Unfortunately, whether it was due to her own intoxication or overconfidence herself, Hermione had had enough.
Without another beat, Hermione popped up from the chair and slammed the large leather-bound book shut. It sounded like a clap of thunder and drew everyone's attention to her, including Ron's.
"I'd like to give it a shot," Hermione responded sweetly.
Hermione watched Ron freeze in place, his face transforming from a confident and cunning man to an insecure and anxious teenager instantly.
"But...H...Hermione…y-you don't have enough clothes on..." he stuttered.
Hermione gave him a daring look, then set the book down, grabbed her drink and chugged it. Ron watched her, still unmoving. She grinned inwardly at her ability to catch him off guard. Hopefully, she could keep this in her favor and tried not to think about what would happen if he gained his footing back and played as well as he usually does.
Hermione wavered slightly, then plopped down on the stool and began setting up chess pieces.
"Are you scared, Ron?" She asked innocently, challenging him.
There were multiple low whistles and chuckles issued from the remaining onlookers.
Ron looked around and tried to shake away his shock. Hermione's heart picked up speed as she tried not to think of what she'd just gotten herself into.
He sat down slowly, not looking her in the eye as he put his pieces in place.
There was silence in the room, though the music continued to reverberate around the rest of the house. Hermione looked back as she heard Katie Bell leave the room, hollering for Padma to get in here.
Hermione lifted her eyes and met Ron's. His concerned features were bearing into her, his brows furrowed. Hermione sucked in her breath, wondering if maybe she had made a horrible mistake. It was too late now, though, as people were beginning to crowd the room.
"No turning back now." She chuckled nervously. Ron's face remained uncharacteristically blank as they began.