Chapter six: Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day (Nickleback leader of men)

Ron awoke the next morning to the slamming of the dorm room door. He sat up in his bed, it was still early the sun was barely coming up on the horizon. He glanced around the room Harry's was the only bed that was empty, it must have been he who stormed out of the room.

Ron wondered what Harry could be so upset about this early in the morning. Ron followed him out of the room, down the hallway and towards the stairwell. He heard the pounding of water on the wall opposite him. He opened the door and walked into the shower room. He nearly tripped over Harry's discarded pajamas he picked them up.

Ron could smell the distinct scent of Harry on the discarded clothes, he loved that smell, a mingling of soap, vanilla shampoo, and something uniquely Harry. He could hear Harry talking to himself. "Never" is all he could make out throw the muffling noise of the water.

He was enjoying the fuzzy view of Harry through the glass door of the stall. Ron wasn't sure if it was the view or the amount of steam issuing from the shower, but something was making him hot. He walked over to the counter to splash cold water on his face. Ron started flapping his pajama shirt in an effort to relieve some of the heat when something Harry was saying caught his attention. He dropped Harry's pajamas in shock.

"I don't want…Ron." Cold ice slapped his face, despite the heat. Harry didn't want him. Disgust was dripping from every syllable. He made to leave the room when something else Harry was saying caught his ear.

"I want… Malfoy"

Ron stopped mid movement, that couldn't be right. He listened harder "Malfoy… has a hot body". Harry was talking about Malfoy's hot body, and who knows what else was going on behind the steamed glass. Harry wanted Malfoy's hot body not Ron's, Ron felt insulted he wasn't perfect but he still had a better body than that slime Malfoy. Beyond the indignation Ron was feeling there was a feeling of deep hurt, Harry found him repulsive and Malfoy was some kind of sex god to Harry. It was so unfair. Maybe Harry really did think he was as bad as some Slytherin troll.

The horror of what Harry was saying out lout sunk into Ron's brain he threw the clothes down on the floor and ran towards the exit. Just as Ron reached the door he heard the shower turn off, he had to leave quickly or Harry would know he had been peeping. He ran from the room and back to the dormitory. He slid back under the covers and feigned sleeping

Ron hoped that his sweaty skin wouldn't give him away. Harry walked in and shouted in his ear, OUCH! That hurt. Harry didn't seem to notice anything odd about him. That figures, though, Ron reminded himself savagely, if I'm some ugly troll he probably doesn't want to spend too much time looking at me.

Harry was hopping around and talking about some homework rubbish they had to do before class, completely unaware of the look Ron was giving him. When Harry finally left Ron got up and started to dress

"I don't know why I'm so upset. I mean I'm not even interested in him. I like Hermione! I'm dating Hermione, for heavens sake I shouldn't be getting upset because Harry is fantasizing about Malfoy instead of me." Ron was mumbling to himself under his breath.

Yes but didn't that date go horribly a sly voice whispered in the back of his head.

"So what are you getting at" Ron was talking to himself.

Well if you really like Hermione and not Harry then it might have gone a bit better, maybe you wouldn't have spent half the time fantasizing about Harry

"Well that was just first date jitters, it was bound to go badly. I'll have better luck tonight." Ron answered back, trying to convince himself.

Suit yourself but don't say I didn't warn you.

When Ron entered the Great Hall for breakfast he spotted Harry and Hermione and walked over. For a split second he considered sitting next to Harry but decided not to inflict his horrible ugliness upon him. Instead he sat beside Hermione.

He decided to act normally as if nothing had upset him that morning. He grabbed the notes off Harry and made a childish joke. When Harry had left the table Ron confirmed plans with Hermione to hang out that night. He wasn't sure what they were going to do

"Alright, but no more rule breaking, promise" Hermione said anally.

"Fine we can just hang out in the common room, make it an early dinner so we can have the common room to ourselves for at least a little while." Ron wasn't keen on having a bunch of giggling first years watching him and Hermione on a date.

Despite being somewhat angry about what he had heard in the shower Ron spent the day trying not to shove thoughts of naked Harry from his mind. His mind was in complete jet-lag because of his late night. When he wasn't fantasizing about Harry he was sliding in and out of stupors. He even caught himself mid drool a couple of times.

Hermione beat him back to the common room that night, Ron would have been their sooner except he got lost because of his constant day dreaming. He sat down next to Hermione and started making awkward conversation again.

What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he just talk to her like a normal guy and girl? Why was he acting like some kind of retard? Maybe there is something missing, has to be. Could it be that she isn't Harry.

No! Ron thought heatedly. As if to prove this point he grabbed Hermione, mid sentence, roughly by the shoulders and kissed her smack on the lips. After a few seconds they broke away and Ron flushed. Hermione could only stare.

"Ron that was…" Hermione started

"-Completely awful?" Ron finished for her. He couldn't help but feel he had completely blown things with her. He flushed and looked moodily away.

"No. but you could use a little practice" Ron looked up at her somewhere between shock and indignation. Hermione was looking at him with an odd calmed resolve on her face. She leaned forward and hissed him lightly on the lips. Ron opened his mouth and traced a circle around Hermione's lips he felt her lips part and soon he was delving into the sweet depths of Hermione's mouth.

Kissing is fun, Ron thought to himself, why hadn't he ever tried this with Hermione before. Probably because she would've slapped you before, but something was strangely different about Hermione that night. Maybe it was just because it was new territory for both of them, but Ron thought that Hermione was acting out of character, he became convinced of this when Neville walked into the common room and she suggested with a coy smile that they go up to his room.

She led the way up to the dormitory holding Ron's hand behind her. When they got into the bedroom Ron sat down on Harry's bed, his bed still wasn't made from that morning. He looked up at her awkwardly he sincerely hoped things wouldn't turn back to uncomfortable silences again. Hermione, it transpired, was going make sure that that didn't happen.

She shut the door behind her walked right up to where he was sitting, Ron gulped nervously. Instead of taking a seat next to him she sat on him, straddling his lap. "What…" Ron couldn't finish his sentence his tongue was now busy doing other things.

He reached up and tangled his hands in Hermione's bushy hair. Ron didn't know where Hermione learned to kiss like that. Then something happened to Ron that he wasn't sure helped or hindered what he was doing. Harry's face swam through his brain and pretty soon he wasn't kissing Hermione he was kissing Harry. He felt himself growing hard, his pants became uncomfortably tight. He moaned aloud. Half an hour passed without any break in the intense snog fest Hermione and Ron were participating in. A couple of times his hands started roaming a little to freely, but Hermione always found casual ways to bring them back to safer areas.

It wasn't until Seamus walked in and started applauding them that they came up for air. Hermione was almost as red as Ron. She muttered something about homework and left for her own dormitory. Ron merely crawled into his own bed and tried to will his erection away before falling into sweet dreams involving a threesome with his two best friends.