Keeping Busy

Disclaimer: Sadly, I still don't own Harry Potter :( Weep for me.

Author's Notes: The long await chapter 3! I hope you enjoy! :D

Slipping and Then Getting Back Up

"Another day, another hideously filthy room to clean," Ron sighed as the entered one of the many untidy rooms of Number 12, Grimmauld Place.

Hermione smiled lightly at her friend. "It's not so bad," she tried to comfort, "at least we got a bit of fun yesterday."

"No Hermione, it is quite bad," Ron said, observing the dust caked space, "Man, even my room isn't this dirty."

"I'm not sure Ron," Hermione admitted, "That could definitely be argued."

The redhead sent her a playful glare. "Alright, where should we start?"

"How about over there? Round that big clock looking thing?" Hermione suggested.

"Right-o," Ron yawned easily and grabbed up his trusty bucket of soapy water to get started.

It was sometime later when Hermione spoke up."It's really unfair that we can't do this with magic," she said unhappily. She went to wipe a bit of dirt from her forehead and grimaced when she ended up covering herself with lukewarm soapy water. "I could have the room cleaned in minutes."

"I'm sure you could," Ron agreed, laughing slightly.

"What?" Hermione questioned grumpily. "What's so funny?"

He looked her over, wilds strands of hair falling lose from her bun and framing her dirt smeared face, soapy hands placed her dusty jeans, and the same, irritated Hermione Granger glare that reminded him she was better then it all. "Once again, Ms. Granger, you are the picture of fashion."

Hermione snorted huffily at her grinning friend. "And once again, you don't have much room to talk, Mr. Weasley."  Kneeling on the floor with his bucket beside him, Ron was up to his elbows in soap with the rest of him covered in all sorts of dirt and grime.

"Oh yeah?" Ron tuffed.

"Yeah," Hermione retorted. "In fact, I think you need this more then I do." She threw her soap covered sponge, hitting him square in the face.

"HEY!" Ron yelled, picking up his own sponge and chucking it at her. Hermione squeaked, grabbing her bucket and the sponge that had been tossed at her, and ran off. Ron struggled to get up, slipping once on the soapy floor, and then tearing after her.

"No Ron, don't!" Hermione squealed as he corned her, bucket raised to one side. But it was too late, and she was soaked from head to toe in soapy water. "Ugh!" she screeched angrily, and tossed her water onto him.

The fight continued, both of them laughing madly the whole time. It wasn't long before they were both so soaked that no amount of water or soap could possibly make them any wetter then they already were. Yet they still ran giggling from each other, slipping on the frictionless floor. "I have you now, Weasley!" Hermione proclaimed triumphantly, approaching Ron with both sopping sponges. Ron made a hard left, Hermione dashing after him, but the less then coordinated Weasley slipped backwards onto the ground, arms flailing around like some sort of cartoon character. Hermione gasped. With the slippery wood not allowing her to stop, she tumbled down on top of him.

"He-hey," Ron blushed breathlessly, his heart beating so hard he feared it might break though his chest. Hermione's damp hung around her shinning face, which he was centimeters away from.

"Hey," Hermione exhaled, able to examine every freckle on her friend's face. She had never noticed his eyes were so blue. She commanded her heart to stop acting so foolish, beating like it would explode. It's just Ron, she tried to remind herself, it's just Ron.

The awkwardness of the situation was undeniable, two soaked threw teenagers fallen on top of each other, faces inches apart, so close they could feel each other's racing hearts. "I should-" Hermione started, but neither moved.

Ron, previously lost in her deep brown eyes, noticed a small smudge of dirt that had somehow managed to survive their fight, on the side of her nose. "You…have something-" he struggled to say. He reached a trembling hand to the spot. She caught his hand gently in her own, but never brought her eyes off his. Slowly but surely, breathing as hard as if he had just finished 6 Quidditch matches, Ron lifted his head and touched his lips to hers.

The kiss didn't remain slow for long, in fact, it became surprisingly fast paced. The pair had suppressed their feelings for so long, they couldn't help kissing wildly. Ron struggled to sit up as the kissing continued. Hermione stayed seated on his lap, running her hands though his hair as he wrapped his arms around him. They kissed between rasping breaths, throwing caution to the wind, unable to stop.

They were stopped though, but only by the jolt of two pairs of feet hitting the floor.

"Well, well, what's going on here?" Fred smirked joyously. 

No two people had ever jumped apart faster.

"No-no-nothing," Ron fumbled, his face so red it was indistinguishable from his hair. "We, uh, we slipped."

"Slipped, ey?" George questioned, eyebrow raised. But despite how quickly they had jumped apart, it was blatantly obvious what was going on. The room was filthy with soap. They were both drenched and blushing wildly, shooting each other embarrassed stairs.

"Ye-yes," Hermione blushed, "We- we slipped. I've got to go…uh…do homework. Yes, homework…alright then." Still vibrant red, she rushed out of the room.

"RON AND HERMIONE! RON AND HERMIONE!" George and Fred started singing hysterically immediately, jumping around the room in triumph.

Of course, the floor was still slippery, and Ron was only too glad when they both stumbled to the ground.

-

Ron didn't see Hermione again until supper. When she did finally appear in the kitchen, she did everything possible to avoid eye contact with Ron, taking a seat on the far, far end of the table and never glancing up from her meal. As if she had blushed so much it had become permanent, Hermione's cheeks remained a rosy pink throughout the meal. Of course, Fred and George did nothing to help the situation.

"Could you pass the bread please, Ron?"

"Oh, he better not George, after all, Ron has a problem with things 'slipping' around him."

"Oh yes, frequent 'slipper', our little Ronnie, isn't that right Hermione?" 

"You know, maybe Ron and Hermione should clean out that old sewing room tomorrow, seemed like they enjoyed themselves today."

"Think they might have enjoyed themselves a bit too much."

Of course, for Fred and George it was all just good fun, but Hermione looked mortified by the end of the meal. She mumbled a quick thank you to Mrs. Weasley and bolted upstairs. Ron shot Fred and George a disgruntled look before heading to his room.

Ron spent much of the next two hours trying to figure out exactly what happened in the last few days. As he rewound and fast forwarded through his memories, the news hit him like a brick. Somewhere along the line, unbeknownst to him, he had fallen in love with Hermione Granger.

What that meant to him, well, he wasn't exactly sure, and what it meant to their friendship, he was still trying to figure out. It seemed like he had spent his whole lifetime waiting for that kiss, building up what it would be like, storing anticipation, and for all his hopes and dreams and fantasies, he had not been disappointed. But that kiss was where much of the problem lied. Ron was still so lost, so dazed, by it, that he was otherwise incapable of thought.

A knock on his door brought him back to reality.

"Oy?" he said, not wanting to move from his sprawled out position on his bed.

"Ron?" came a tiny voice.

At this, Ron jumped up and threw open the door. "Hermione," he said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Ron, I wanted to talk to you about.." She was at a loss for words. It seemed to her that if she was to say the words 'the kiss' would be confirming it, making it real. "About…what happened today."

"Yeah," Ron said dreamily, staring once again into her oak brown eyes.

 She blushed, stepping into the room and closing the door behind her.

"It was…" she searched once again for the word. Ron waited anxiously, wondering if in all her brilliance and expansive vocabulary, Hermione could find a word to accurately describe something he had found so utterly indescribable.

Despite a protesting heart, Hermione's better logic and growing fear forced her to say something she wasn't sure she had wanted to. "…a mistake."

"A…mistake?" Ron's voice quivered. No, that wasn't the word he had been looking for.

Hermione only nodded.

And because a boy has to do what a boy has to do when he wants to stay friends with the girl he loves, Ron nodded as well. "Yeah," he whispered, "a mistake…"

"Yes," Hermione said, focusing on a crack in a distance wall. "We've just been cramped up to long, is all. We're both just a little emotional."

"Yeah," Ron blushed. "Did-Didn't mean a thing."

Hermione hid a pained expression. Though she had been implying that matter herself, hearing it from Ron was a whole different story.

"So…" Ron said.

"So…" echoed Hermione.

"What do we do now?" asked Ron.

"Well…I think it's best we just forget about it…" She ran her hand back nervously through her hair.

Another nod from the redhead.

"Alright," Hermione blushed. "I guess I should get going then…" She paused. Both of them silently begged for her to admit everything she had said before was a lie. Instead, she turned to the door.

"Ron?"

"Yeah?" Ron piped up, full of hope.

"It's probably best that we don't mention what happened to anyone…you know how they get…"

"Yeah…"

And with that, Hermione Granger closed the door.

Her mere presence being the strength that kept him standing, Ron thumped down on his bed, stunned, hurt, berated. His emotions flapped about his head like wild, frightened birds with him in the center all the while, grabbing desperately to catch them and pulling back only air. Try as he might, he couldn't snatch hold of one long enough to give it a decent amount of thought.

"Little late for female visitors, isn't it Ronnie?" Fred grinned as the twins entered the room.

"Hermione stop by for a little more 'slipping'?" George asked mischievously.

Ron looked up at his brothers with a face full of disgust and desolation. He was silent as tiny fragments gathered inside him to form the right word. "No."

"No?" George repeated, disappointed that his brother hadn't so much as blushed. "Well, no worries then, I'm sure you'll do plenty of 'slipping' tomorrow."

"No," Ron replied stoically. "We won't. In fact, they'll be no more 'slipping' at all."

"What?" Fred and George asked in unison, anxious to see what was spoiling their fun.

"You heard me," Ron growled, anger slowly building up. "No more slipping. No more kissing. No more anything. It was a mistake."

"You two didn't look too mistaken when you were snogging like mad for a good 10 minutes," Fred interjected slyly, getting a large guffaw from George.

"Yeah, well, it was a mistake, alright!?" Ron snapped. The twins took a step back.

Ron lowered his voice a level. "Hermione…she said she'd just been cooped in too long, that it didn't mean anything." He glared at a piece of furniture, tears threatening to pour over.

Fred and George eyes opened wide, suddenly feeling very guilty. "Look mate, we're sorry. If we-"

"I don't want to talk about it," he snarled, eyes not mobbing from the dresser. "You've both done more than enough, thanks." His voice was riddled with anger.

The twins hung their heads, but did not move.

"Go," Ron commanded coldly. And for one of the first times in their short lives, they listened.

Eventually, things got back to normal, as they often did. Ron finally gave a short apology to the twins and even managed to stop blushing around Hermione. He had done just what she said, and forgot about it. The news that Harry would be coming was more then welcomed, as time alone was still hard. Hermione had been quick to remind Ron that Harry had been through a lot, and didn't need to hear about what insignificant things they had been doing over the summer. Ron had mindlessly agreed.

And Harry had asked. He had demanded to know what had the two had been doing to keep so busy. And Hermione had anxiously shot off some lies to cover it all up, just like was expected. And of course, Ron kept his promise too, standing all the while, and never giving word to his most favorite mistake.

Fin.

That's all! Hope you liked it or didn't hate it beyond all reasonable belief. I needed something as I anxiously wait for HBP! :D SOO EXCITED! All reviews are VERY much appreciated.