My entry for Ron's Chessboard Fest 2021. A big hug for my lovely beta accio-broom.
"Where are you guys meeting tonight?" Hermione asked as she and Harry cleared the table while Ron and Ginny set up the cleaning charms.
"George's place this time," Ron answered and swooped up some foam of the soapy dishwater to smear it across Hermione's cheek.
Sometime after the war, the Weasley siblings established the tradition to meet up once a month. Just the six of them going out for a pint or simply getting pissed at one of their places. This resulted in another kind of meet up, consisting of the Weasley siblings' significant others. Tonight, they would play a French card game which Fleur insisted on being a lot of fun. The rest of them simply agreed because most of the time, they ended up just talking and drinking anyway.
Playfully swatting Ron's hand away, Hermione cleaned her face with a tea towel, placing it neatly back on the designated hook. Kreacher liked the kitchen to be spotless, and letting them cook for themselves every now and then at all had already been a huge compromise from Kreacher's side. So, they always made sure to clean up after themselves; otherwise, Kreacher would immediately take over all kitchen duties again.
Ginny sat down on Harry's lap when all the plates and cutlery were taken care of and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. She lifted Harry's left arm to check the time on the gold watch the Weasley's gifted him years ago.
"Ron, we should've left already."
"Gin, you know every single Weasley is a notorious latecomer. Except for Percy, maybe. George will probably be not even out of the shower when we arrive," Ron reasoned as he rummaged through the fridge for the sixpack of Muggle beer he bought to bring to George, "or taking a shite."
While Ginny and Harry snickered, nodding their heads in agreement, Hermione just sighed and rolled her eyes. At some point, she gave up berating Ron about his foul mouth. It was a lost cause, and while she would never admit it out loud, she would definitely miss it if he suddenly stopped cursing. Mainly because over the years, Hermione gathered some exclusive knowledge about what to do for Ron to bring forth a particular choice of swear words.
Ron hardly censored himself, except when Teddy, Victoire and Molly were in the room. Not only would Mrs Weasley twist Ron's ear off, Hermione definitely drew the line when children were present. She could've also lived without the image of George sitting on the toilet.
They heard the fireplace roar to life, and a few moments later, Audrey came into the kitchen, dressed in grey tracksuit bottoms, white trainers and an oversized blue shirt that sure enough belonged to Percy. Her outfit clashed with the fancy bottle of wine she held in her left hand.
Hermione looked at Ron, who she had to talk out of wearing his trackies tonight, and into a pair of nicely fitting jeans instead, along with one of his old Cannon shirts. He lifted an eyebrow at her when he saw Audrey's casual clothes, but Hermione ignored it.
Audrey sat down with a heavy sigh. "I knew I'm too early. Why am I dating someone so over-punctual?"
"You're not because Gin and I are leaving now." Ron laughed as he gave Audrey a quick hug before kissing Hermione and wishing them a fun night. "Don't do what I wouldn't do."
"I think we're fine then," Harry commented from behind Ron, where Ginny gave him a peck on the cheek before heading out of the kitchen.
As Ron turned around, Hermione pinched his arse, not ashamed to cop a feel as she gave him an innocent smile, and he rewarded her with his trademark lopsided grin. "Is this why you wanted me to wear these tight jeans? So, you could properly feel me up?" He asked as he leaned down to give Hermione another kiss.
"ROOON!" Ginny cried from the living room before he could properly snog his girlfriend again. He sighed and gave her a quick peck on the mouth instead.
"Actually, I wanted you to wear them so I can ogle you from behind." She whispered before he went out of earshot. Ron didn't turn around, but he gave his hips an extra swing before vanishing out of the kitchen.
"God, that was gross," Audrey commented but winked at Hermione anyway, "How can you stand that every day, Harry?"
Harry was just about to give her an answer when they heard several people arriving via floo, and he settled for just rolling his eyes instead.
Accompanied by a cloud of some very nice smelling perfume, Fleur glided into the kitchen and right behind her appeared a tall, blonde man Hermione and Harry never met before. This had to be Charlie's new boyfriend. Ron and Ginny met him last Sunday over at the Burrow when both Harry and Hermione stayed at home since they still had been recovering from a rather nasty case of the flu.
Fleur took Finn –as he introduced himself in a thick Swedish accent– directly with her from the Burrow where she put Victoire to bed and where Molly and Arthur happily watched over their first grandchild. Harry was secretly happy to finally have another guy in their round again. Not that he minded the company of Hermione, Fleur, Angelina and Audrey. Actually, he always enjoyed their monthly gatherings, but it was nice to not be the only rooster in the yard.
"I'm here, I'm here! I just wanted to stop by the store to grab some more Butterbeer." Angelina said and put the bottles on the kitchen table. As always, they had a good variety of booze to choose from; Angelina's Butterbeer, wine from both Fleur and Audrey, the Firewhiskey Harry bought yesterday, and some Cider Hermione picked up from her way home from work. It was way too much already, of course, but that didn't stop Kreacher from making so much elf wine that they'll probably never had to buy alcohol ever again.
As Hermione and Harry added some glasses and snacks, Audrey observed the table with a huge smile on her face. She clapped her hands in childish glee, grabbed a bottle of wine and started to fill Hermione's wine glass.
"Fleur, explain that card game to us."
Ron was annoyed.
Because his dear brother was utter rubbish at calculating what would be the appropriate amount of booze for six people, they ran out of beer and whiskey after not even two hours. Due to his bad luck at rock paper scissors, he ended up going back to Grimmauld Place to get them some more beer and one or two bottles of Kreacher's wine.
The moment he walked through the fireplace, loud shrieks and booming laughter sounded over from the kitchen. Ron planned to just quickly walk into the kitchen, taking what they needed out of the fridge and go back to George's place. He stopped in his tracks as the conversation filtered through to the living room because he didn't want his presence to be known just yet.
"…okay, okay, Hermione. Don't look at me like that. I complimented your choice in men. Ron is a stilig karl." Finn said, his booming voice carrying easily over to the living room. Ron didn't know what stilig karl meant, but from what context he was able to overhear, Finn might've just said something nice about him.
As silently as possible, he stepped out into the hallway where he could hear the conversation better but would remain undetected by the occupants of the kitchen.
"I personally like his jawline, especially when he lets it go stubbly. It's…," Audrey snipped her fingers, "very tempting to touch sometimes. Remember Sunday afternoon after lunch? I kind of had to restrict myself from starring at his jaw when he listened to the Cannons game on the radio. Such determination."
Ron was sure he was glowing in the dark as he felt the blush creeping up his neck, his face no doubt looking like a tomato. He expected many things, but he certainly didn't expect to run into this kind of conversation.
"What does Percy have to say about you lusting over his brother?" Hermione asked, and Ron had to stop himself from bursting out into a laugh because he could practically see her narrowing her eyes.
"Oh, Hermione, don't be such a prude. There is nothing wrong with admiring somebody else than your own partner. It eez only natural."
Ron could not hear Hermione clear enough, but he thought he could hear her muttering something like 'I'm not a prude.'
"Does somebody else has a favourite part of Ron they want to elaborate on? Or can we finally start the next round of cards?" Again, the red-head tried his hardest not to laugh when everyone just ignored Hermione's sarcasm and, indeed, continued elaborating on the topic.
"His arse!" Angelina offered. From the way she was dragging the 's' a little, he could tell she was already slightly tipsy. "Ron has a very nice bum. Do you guys train your arses in these weekly training sessions at work, Harry?"
Of course, this brought forth another wave of hysterical laughter, which only intensified when Finn told Harry to keep him in mind for these arse workouts. "Maybe I'll learn something."
When Angelina recovered from her giggling fit, she declared to Harry she too wants to sign up for that training then added, "But Ron had a nice arse before Auror training anyway."
"And when did you notice that may I ask?"
"Hermione, it's almost impossible to play Quidditch and not have a nice arse. Sitting on a broom for hours is no picnic for those muscles," Angelina answered, unfazed by Hermione's haughty undertone while Audrey let out something between a snort and laugh, resulting in a rather violent coughing fit.
"Don't you agree, Hermione?" Angie asked innocently as she clapped the still coughing Audrey on the back.
All the ruckus must have summoned Crooshanks because the ginger cat ran towards Ron. He quickly picked him up and started to scratch him behind the ear, successfully stopping him from running inside the kitchen and surely disrupting the conversation inside. And a shame this would be, considering Ron really wanted to hear his girlfriend's answer.
"I certainly agree," Hermione said calmly, "Ron hated his hand-me-down jeans, but I always had been very fond of them. Especially, their tendency to hug him in all the right places."
So much for these new tight jeans, she talked him into buying, Ron thought, not being able to stop the huge grin splitting his face. Running into this conversation certainly was a pleasant coincidence.
Apparently, the others didn't expect Hermione to answer so smoothly because a chorus of approving whistles startled Crookshanks, and Ron almost dropped him when the cat clawed at his arm.
"So, you guys are mostly fond of his arse," Finn mused, taking a quick swig of his beer, "which is understandable but did you ever notice his shoulders? Ron has the best kind of build; slim waist and broad shoulders without looking burly. Please don't tell Charlie I said that."
"Tall and handsome, just like my Bill," Fleur agreed, Hermione giving an annoyed groan that did nothing to stop the French witch from elaborating, "but I say, Ron's arms and hands are ze best thing about him. Of course, I hate he got zis scars in ze first place, but I think zey accentuate his arms and big hands rather nicely."
"Well, Fleur. That surprises no one, I think." Harry said, joining the conversation for the first time since Ron listened in.
"Don't even encourage this, Harry," Hermione whined, "How could find it not weird we lust over your best friend?"
Ron knew full well that Harry would tease Hermione, and probably him too, forever about this, so Harry's next words weren't too surprising.
"Well, actually…if I would play for the other team," Harry obviously made a point to make a meaningful pause here, and Ron really, really wished he could see Hermione's face right now, "…I mean, if we approach this in a logical manner…I have a thing for red-heads after all."
The next outburst of laughter, surely about Hermione's expression, sent Crookshanks in a frenzy for real now, and the bloody cat let out a loud wail and wriggled out of Ron's arms, scratching the side of Ron's neck before jumping down over his shoulder.
If not for Crookshanks loud entrance into the kitchen (why he would bolt towards the noise that scared him was beyond Ron's understanding), Ron's colourful cursing tipped off the others about his presence.
Well aware he had been caught, Ron followed Hermione's cat into the kitchen, red-eared and shyly waving at everyone. "Hello…"
Before he could offer some kind of explanation, a furiously blushing Hermione jumped up from her seat, bolted towards Ron and without another word, took his hand and dragged him off towards the stairs. "Make sure to take good care of this new scratch on his neck, Hermione!" Audrey shouted after them, accompanied by the other's laughter.
With a loud bang, their bedroom door shut, and Hermione immediately pressed Ron against it, showering him with kisses and roaming hands. Slightly puzzled but equally enthusiastic, Ron took Hermione's face into his hands, deepening the kiss and enjoying the feeling of her body pressed up against his. As they finally came up for air, Hermione nudged him towards their bed, but Ron didn't move from his place by the door.
"Hermione, you know they just said that to take the mickey, right?" Ron grinned at her and gave her a wink, "Riling you up is apparently not just my favourite past time."
"You think they only said that to rile me up?" Hermione raised a questioning eyebrow as she took his hand and resumed her mission to get him into the direction of the bed. "
This time he complied, Hermione lying down onto the soft mattress and tugging on Ron's belt, making him fall right on top of her. "Of course, you would think that," Hermione whispered.
"Think what?"
"That the others just said that to rile me up." Hermione answered, her hands slowly roaming up and down Ron's back, "I don't get possessive over nothing, you know."
"If…you…say…so," Ron murmured between the kisses he placed on her neck. He paused his trail towards that special place behind Hermione's ear to look at her with an awfully smug smile. "I did not plan to wear them again, but I'll gladly dig those old jeans out of the wardrobe. You know, for the sake of making you happy…and also probably Angelina."
"Shut up and charm the door!" she said as Hermione let her hands wander over his jeans-clad arse, silently marvelling about its firmness.
As her hands and mouth wandered over his shoulders, his arms and his scars, and as his hands cupped her face and his blue eyes looked down at her with an expression that always spoke directly to her heart, she decided that every part of Ron was her favourite part.
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