Developments

Disclaimer: JK Rowling. Heard of her? She owns it all.

Author's Note: Right. I'm taking photography, what can I say? ;D The glasses part is for Maria. Hey, guess what, she also thought up the title. And I'm all over stealing other people's ideas, so there you go. Muhaha. This is slash, not the first I've written, but the first I've finished and am actually posting, so… wow. Hee. That's your warning. Unbeta-ed, as I have no slashy beta. Waah for me.

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It had been a good plan.

It had. Anything to distract Harry from You-Know-Who was a good thing, and the plan had been no different, Ron thought almost defensively. The lighthearted idea to manipulate magical film to show Draco Malfoy doing Very Embarrassing Things had been his own idea. Or so he thought. It was getting harder to remember anything at the moment, as he stared at where he assumed Harry stood, his nerves on end.

Hermione had hidden her smile and told them not to do it; they'd just lose points and get detention. Harry's eyes had instantly lost their saddened look, and that was enough for Ron. The plan was on.

"Now… how do we go about doing this?" Okay, so he hadn't thought of everything.

"Oh, honestly. I really shouldn't be helping you at all; I've got three essays to do and I need to help Neville with a potion, and did I mention this isn't a good idea? Isn't it obvious? You should ask Colin to help; he knows everything about photography. I can't believe I'm helping with this at all. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go to the library for a book I forgot." Hermione had said it all in her very fast way, and Harry and Ron grinned at each other as she left.

Then Harry groaned.

"Colin?"

Colin Creevy had been thrilled with the idea of helping Harry with anything. He jumped up, ready to show them the photo lab, but they insisted they wait until the following day. They needed to gather things, fine-tune the plan.

The next day Colin tracked them down and excitedly reminded Harry about his helping. Harry rolled his eyes, but Ron smiled brightly and told Colin that Harry was eternally grateful, which earned him a glare from his best friend, and a giddy bounce of happiness from Colin.

They had made their way to the photo lab, which turned out to be an empty classroom that Colin had been allowed to turn into his own lab. When he started talking, Colin turned from excitable Harry-fanboy to experienced helpful teacher. He had explained the chemicals wizards used, some of which were the same as Muggles', along with a few others. He taught them about things that could go wrong, and what equipment was to be used, and Ron found himself being quite interested in it all.

After he quizzed them on random facts, Colin brought them over to the darkroom. He left the door open and the light on as he showed them how to load the film. He made them do it a couple times, and Harry seemed about ready to forget the whole plan and leave to practice Quidditch.

Just as Colin announced that he would turn off the light, shut the door, and help them with their real film, Ginny and one of her friends had come rushing into the lab.

"Colin! We've been looking everywhere for you," Ginny's friend said breathlessly. Ron scoffed at that – wouldn't the first place to look for Colin be in the photo lab?

"Right. You've got to go back to the tower right away. It's happening. Oh, hello, Ron. Harry." Ginny had added, her eyes dropping for a moment.

Colin had seemed very stressed by this cryptic announcement, and he turned to the other boys, his face pale. "I'm very sorry, Harry, but I have to go now."

"Er, is everything all right?"

"Yes, yes, fine," Colin said distractedly as he walked towards the door with the girls. "Oh! You know, I showed you how to load the film; if you want, you can go ahead and do that now. I'll help with the rest later." With that, he ran back, shoved them both back into the darkroom, flipped off the light, and shut the door. Ron and Harry heard him yell, "good luck!" and then all was silent.

And dark.

After what seemed like 500 attempts to open his film, Ron had said, "That's it. Do you just want to give up and wait for when Colin's not so… weird?" Well, that was what he was going to say, anyway. He had only got out 'that's it' as he turned in the darkness and crashed right into Harry.

The shorter boy had been standing very close to him, in the very tiny room. So close, that when Ron turned and crashed, their legs brushed together. It seemed like they stayed that way forever, while in reality Harry jumped back in an instant, apologising.

And that brought them up to now. With Ron staring into the pitch black darkness of the cramped space, his heart beating rapidly for some reason, his skin almost humming. He was one breath away from throwing open the door and running away. Dammit, this was not in the plan!

This reaction was very unsettling. This was the kind of feeling he got when he brushed hands with Hermione, or when he was trying to talk to Fleur or some other attractive female. Idly, he was thankful for the darkness, because it meant Harry couldn't see his face. With a shaky hand, he managed to open his film. How he would load it, he had no idea.

"Er, got it now. Your turn." There. He said that quite casually. Then it hit him that they would have to switch places. While in the dark, cramped space.

What on earth was this? He had been close to Harry plenty of times; they were best friends, some touching would be expected. They shared a dorm, for crying out loud! He'd seen Harry undress before and it never made him feel anything. Ron nearly groaned; of course, now it did, thanks to his newly traitorous mind.

With a sigh, he took a couple tiny steps forward.

"Harry? Where are you? Don't want to bump into you again…"

"I'm right here; next to the counter. Edge along the wall."

Palm flat on the stone wall, Ron made it a couple more inches before his and Harry's shoulders collided.

"Right then. Guess there's not enough room, eh?" Harry chuckled rather weakly.

Ron turned his body sideways to fit through, and it turned out Harry did the same. He knew this because suddenly he could feel Harry's breath ghosting across his neck. They both froze. There was nowhere to jump backwards, because they were facing each other and their backs were against walls and counters and honestly, what annoying things walls were sometimes, weren't they? And Ron's skin began to do that horrible humming thing again, and maybe there was something wrong in his blood, maybe a bad sugar intake or something, that could explain it, right?

Oh, god.

Then Harry slipped past, and Ron's legs almost gave away beneath him. He moved quickly to the counter and stared down at it, where he knew it was, but couldn't see. He could hear the numerous tries of Harry's, and his quiet muffled swearing. Ignoring it all, Ron slowly unraveled his negatives to cut the ends.

"About damn time!"

Ron snickered. "Bloody annoying, isn't it? Why're we doing this, again?" The joking came just as naturally as always, and Ron was grateful. The mood lightened; some of the tense undercurrent of… whatever had dissipated, and the two friends set to work on their negatives.

This wonderful normalness lasted all of four seconds.

Of all the clichés - they both happened to reach for the scissors at the same time. Stunned stupidly, neither of them moved, and it dawned on Ron that they were now technically holding hands.

Okay, any second now Harry'll pull his hand away. Ron couldn't seem to tear his gaze from their hands. And Harry didn't move. All right now, Ron. You move your hand! Do it!

Was timing actually standing still? Had they got stuck in some spell, and therefore couldn't move? It was the only explanation. Harry must really want those scissors, Ron thought inanely, he doesn't seem to want to let them go.

Overly tense, Ron's arm jerked a bit, and he ended up pinching Harry's hand.

"Ow! What--?"

Ron automatically brought Harry's hand closer to himself, apologising and asking if he was all right. He noticed that Harry's voice shook when he answered, and perhaps that was the reason Ron did what he did next. That was the only reason he could think of for going completely mad and pressing his lips to where he guessed the little half moon marks from his fingernails were on Harry's hand.

Harry gave a strangled sort of yelp, and Ron dropped his arm, stammered an intellectual 'erm…' and pondered briefly on when his life had got so complicated and strange. And scary, scary in a way that had nothing to do with giant spiders and Dementors and You-Know-Who. Apparently the connection and answer to all of those questions was simple: Harry.

There was deafening silence. Words seemed to hang unsaid in the air, and Ron couldn't remember ever feeling so on edge and uncomfortable around his best friend before, not even during their fight in fourth year. He didn't like feeling this way. Searching his brain for some sort of funny comment to break the stillness, he almost missed when Harry spoke.

"Per… perhaps we should go. Or I should! I can go, and you can finish up here if you want, or—"

"Harry." Ron had never thought it possible to state one word like that. Insecure, and loaded with confusion and fear and hope and countless other emotions Hermione wouldn't even be able to list. Oddly enough, that was all he had to say; it seemed as though they were on the same page as they often were.

Two bodies edged closer.

It seemed the easiest thing in the world – their mouths finding each other's. In that blackened room where they had stumbled into anything and everything, including themselves, this was simple and easy and as instinctual as insulting Snape and this probably said something deeper about them, but Ron was mentally babbling, distracting himself from the fact that he was presently kissing Harry Potter, his best friend in the world.

It was, surprisingly, not disconcerting in the slightest. Noses were bumped, and Harry accidentally stepped on Ron's foot, but it all seemed right. 

The rims of Harry's glasses pressed into Ron's temples, but he stopped Harry from removing them. He didn't want them off. He knew it made no difference; it wasn't as though Harry could see him anyway, but there was something in him that insisted they stay on. If they were off, Ron would appear blurry and unfamiliar, and even in the complete darkness, that was something he couldn't stand to imagine.

Ron's lower lip was sucked into Harry's insanely and incredibly warm mouth, and he was overcome with the urge to burrow as close as humanly possible. Tongue replaced lip, and an arm wound around Harry's back; they gasped in unison when their bodies lined together in a way that just fit, fit just for them and all their parts and thoughts and suddenly it seemed like the most logical next step in their relationship. Touching increased, danced lower.

And then the room was filled with light.

"Oh! I… Er, sorry. I, I didn't think anyone would still be here. Erm…" Colin continued to stammer, staring anywhere other than the two snogging boys he just walked in on. For their part, Harry and Ron leapt away from each other not nearly fast enough; Ron observed that the three of them could probably light the room themselves with their respective red faces.

Colin's eyes darted over the counter, and oddly enough, he looked more mortified than before. "Your negatives! They're ruined! You two couldn't even wait until you loaded them before you jumped each other?! What… why… See if I ever help you again." He cast a hurt look at Harry, then turned and stalked away.

Ron and Harry stared at each other. The light would make things different now, wouldn't it? Seeing each other. It'd be awkward and wrong now.

Why hadn't it felt wrong yet?

Harry nodded his head towards the door of the lab, and they began to walk, together. Their fingers brushed, and they glanced at each other, smiled.

It had been a good plan.

End.