Warning:
The beginning of this chapter is rated R due to its sexual content. While not graphic enough to warrant an NC-17 rating, it may not be suitable reading material for those that are underage or easily offended.
Author's Note:
I've spent the past hour trying to get the breaks between the sections to show up in this chapter but for some reason this site refuses to show them. I am tired of messing with it, so this will be my last attempt. If the breaks .... (ooooo) or don't show up, the chapter will be REALLY confusing, so I suggest you all pop over to Checkmated . com and read it there.
Chapter 54
"Now what?" Ron asked, after Hermione took the jar containing the Coupling Potion out of his hands, placed her lips where his had been and swilled down a large mouthful.
"That's it," she informed him, as she replaced the lid and resealed the jar with her wand.
"That can't be it," Ron protested. He felt exactly the same way he'd felt before he'd tasted the potion, except for the fact that his stomach was churning. Definitely worse than Polyjuice Potion, he told himself.
"Well it is," Hermione stated, shoving the remaining potion back into her rucksack, before leaning through the curtains surrounding Ron's bed and setting her bag on the floor. "It wears off gradually," she said, as she sat back up. "Maybe it comes on the same way."
"So you aren't feeling it either?" he asked, sounding somewhat accusatory.
"I did too make it right," Hermione snapped out of no where.
"Can you....you're not....," Ron started to sputter. "Are you reading my mind?"
"I don't have to," she retorted, as she slid beneath the blankets on his bed and hid her body from view. "It's written all over your face."
"Oh," he said, sounding both relieved and a bit disappointed at the same time. "So it's not working then?" he asked, yanking his bedspread back and sliding under the covers beside her.
"Even when it does kick in, we won't be able to read each other's mind," she reminded him. "It's just strong feelings, remember? It's not like I'm going to know everything you're thinking."
"Well, that's good," Ron chuckled. Because if you knew what I thought about most of the day you'd probably kill me.
"What's this?" Hermione asked, rolling over on her side and coming up on one elbow to look at him disapprovingly. "You wouldn't by chance be trying to keep secrets from me now, would you Mr. Weasley?" she teased, finally breaking into a smile as she reached forward and placed her free hand on his stomach. "Because if that's the case," she said, tracing light circles with her fingertips, "I may just have to torture them out of you."
"Oh you think you can get the better of me, do you?" Ron scoffed. "In case you hadn't noticed," he said, his eyes falling to the silver charm hanging between her breasts, which were now uncovered, "you're disarmed and I'm bigger than you are."
"The bigger they are, the harder they fall," Hermione replied flippantly when she saw Ron smirk at her. And you're going down you smug prat, she thought, moments before she dug her fingers into his stomach and rolled over on top of him.
"That's not fair," Ron yelped in surprise, squirming beneath her and trying to scoot away when she began tickling him in earnest.
"Who said I was going to fight fair?" she laughed, as she continued poking him in the ribs. "It isn't fair that you're bigger than me, so I'll just have to compensate for it."
But no sooner had the words left her mouth, then the world unexpectedly shifted. Before Hermione even knew what had happened, she found herself lying flat on her back with Ron straddling her hips.
"I can cheat too, you know?" he said complacently, grabbing her hands, prying them off his stomach and using his weight advantage to hold her lower body down while he pressed her wrists against the bed on either side of her head.
"Get off!" Hermione cried, bucking beneath him in an attempt to upset his balance and knock him over. It annoyed her that it had been so easy for him to subdue her and yet at the same time, there was something exciting about it. Maybe it was the fact that they'd been rolling around on the bed stark naked or the way Ron's eyes had ranked down her body briefly before snapping back up and locking on her face again. Maybe it was the fact that he'd hardened right before her eyes, but she had to admit it to herself. As infuriated as she was by the fact that she was all but helpless in her current position, she was aroused as well. "GET OFF!" she shouted again, planting her feet firmly on the mattress and heaving her lower body against him while trying to twist it at the same time.
"You... you're... Bloody hell," Ron swore, his eyes going wide as he stared down at her red face. "This turns you on."
"It does not," she lied, the color in her cheeks becoming even more prominent as embarrassment was added to the mix of emotions she was feeling. How could she possibly be turned on by the fact that he'd wrestled the control away from her? She was a control freak for heaven sake. She always wanted to be the one that was in charge.
Except for in the bedroom, a little voice whispered in the back of her mind. It excites you when he exerts himself.
"Does too," Ron retorted with a smirk.
"You're one to talk," Hermione snapped, dropping her eyes down to his erection, hoping she'd be able to shift the blame and the embarrassment onto him.
"I didn't do that," Ron informed her, his ears coloring ever so slightly. "Not by myself anyway," he added. "You helped," he stated, smirking again. "You were annoyed, but you were turned on too, and that annoyed you even more. I could feel it. Just a little," he admitted, when Hermione subconsciously arched one of her eyebrows at him. "But it had to be you," he said, releasing her hands. "There's no reason for me to be annoyed," he chuckled, "I'm the one that came out on top."
"GIT!" Hermione cried, smacking him in the shoulder as he pulled himself into a more upright position.
"You like it," Ron sniggered, his blue eyes sparkling, "admit it."
"I will not," she retorted in a dignified voice.
"Admit it or I'll have no choice but to torture it out of you," Ron replied, shooting her one of his lopsided smiles. He was definitely enjoying this. He had her dead to rights and they both knew it. Even so, this was Hermione he was talking about and Hermione never admitted defeat, a fact that he was counting on.
"An empty threat," she shot back with a smug smile of her own. "I'm not the one that is ticklish."
"Maybe not," Ron said, licking his lips and allowing his eyes to roam down her slender body once more. "But, I still know how to make you squirm," he announced, reaching around behind his back and thrusting his hand between her thighs. "I knew it," he proclaimed triumphantly, one finger slipping between her folds for the briefest of moments to confirm what he already knew. "Let's hear you deny it now," he jeered, grinning down at her arrogantly.
"Smug prat," Hermione replied, unable to keep herself from smiling when she felt an unexpected wave of accomplishment surge through her for a brief moment and then flickering out. What's he done that he's so proud of? she wondered, realizing that it was Ron's emotions she had sensed. "You better knock that off or I might start calling you 'bighead boy'," she threatened, managing to take him by surprise and insult him at the same time. That ought to teach you to feel smug, she thought, knowing how much he'd hate having his ego compared to Percy's.
Right on cue, Ron's mouth fell open in indignation, but he recovered quickly. Far quicker than Hermione would have expected in fact. Probably because he could sense that she didn't really mean what she said.
"Well, it is getting rather large," he said crassly, glancing down at his erection and then giving her a cheeky smile. "Not that I heard you complaining earlier," he added, once she'd gasped. Gottcha, he thought, chuckling softly to himself. I know how to shock you too.
"I can't believe you just said that," Hermione said, still gaping at him in amazement.
"Stop trying to change the subject," Ron shot back, moving his finger upward so he could touch her where she was the most sensitive. "Admit it," he demanded, gently stroking her in a circular motion, just like she'd taught him to do. "Admit that you were... that you are turned on. There's no denying it, love," he said, holding her eyes with his own as he stopped caressing her and dipped his finger into her body. "You are so bloody hot," Ron growled out when she whimpered and he felt her tighten around his finger. "You drive me crazy, Hermione. Do you know that? You have no idea how much I want you," he said, his chest rising and falling in rapid succession as he pulled his finger back and pushed it into her again.
Although the truth was that Hermione did know. She'd have to be blind not to see the way his body had responded. But it was more than that. She could see it in his eyes as well. His bright blue eyes had darkened to a smoky cobalt color and they now burned with desire. The same desire he was transmitting directly into her body, not just with his actions or his words, but through the bond they now shared. Hermione could feel Ron's want, his need, course through her and combine with her own. What she didn't realize was that she was sending it right back to him, essentially creating a feedback loop of ever-increasing desire between the two of them.
"Oh god, Mione," Ron groaned loudly, when her lusts slammed into him and intensified his own. He'd wanted to wait. He'd wanted to tease her and drag it out. He'd wanted to make sure that she enjoyed herself before he made love to her again, but suddenly everything was different and he didn't know if he'd be able to wait that long.
"It's all right," Hermione said, as if she'd sensed his hesitation, sitting upright, wrapping her arms around Ron's torso, and pressing her lips against his neck. "I want you too," she whispered, her breath hot against his skin. "Now," she demanded, licking her way up to his ear and falling backwards, pulling him down on top of her in the process. "I want you now," she said, just before his mouth came crashing down on top of hers and he silenced her with a hungry kiss.
oooooooooo
"OH... OH, GOD!" Hermione shrieked in astonishment, when Ron surged forward one final time and the coil of desire wound tightly within her snapped without warning, causing her entire body to shudder right along with his mere seconds before his arms gave out and he fell on top of her. "OH GOD, RON!" she half shouted, half moaned, as the sweet wave of release washed over her, shooting darts of pleasure all the way down to the tips of her toes.
That wasn't supposed to happen, was the first coherent thought to pop into her mind as Ron somehow managed to roll off her and they both fought to regain their breath. It wasn't supposed to be like that.
She wasn't supposed to have an orgasm from mere intercourse alone. It just didn't make sense for that to happen yet. It was far too soon. This was all too new. Not just for her, but for him as well. They were both too inexperienced for that to happen. All of the books had warned her that she'd have to become accustomed to it first. And yet clearly, the books had been wrong, because it had happened and it had been glorious.
MY GOD! she thought, her brown eyes popping open and going wide as she quickly replayed the past ten minutes over in her mind and realized that they'd come undone at the same time. It was him! the part of her mind that had to analyze everything situation shouted. That's why you lost control so quickly. You were feeding off of him. You were feeling what he was feeling. OH! MY! GOD! she cried out in her head, as several different questions occurred almost simultaneously. Does it always feel like that for him? Is it always going to be that intense? Will I feel it every time he has an orgasm, or will it only work like that when we're together? Maybe it was just a fluke. Maybe it'll just be this one time and once we get used to it I won't feel him anymore. I wonder if he could feel me as well. Maybe he was feeding off me too and that's why he...
But she never did finish the thought. In fact, all of the questions she'd been pondering were lost when Ron's arm snaked around her side and her stomach flipped without warning. For a moment she thought the fluttering sensation she was feeling was nerves, but no sooner had that thought occurred to her, then the butterflies in her stomach took flight and soared straight to her heart. That's when she recognized it for what it really was. It wasn't nervousness that she was feeling, it was love. She could feel how much Ron cared about her. It was pouring off him as he pulled her closer and the sheer weight of it was overwhelming.
"Mione?" he asked, opening his eyes and coming up on his elbow to study her when he heard her breath catch. "What's wrong?" he asked anxiously, sensing her distress. BUGGER! "Did I hurt you?" he asked, fighting down his own wave of panic when he saw the tears glistening on her cheeks. "Merlin," he groaned miserably. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Why didn't you tell me I was..."
"No," Hermione interrupted, opening her eyes and smiling at him. "It's not that," she insisted. "It's... I can feel you," she said, placing a hand on her chest just above her rapidly beating heart. "Right here. I can feel you. I can really feel you," she said, shifting onto her side and pressing her face against his neck. "I had no idea," she mumbled against him. "No idea that it was that strong. There was always part of me that was worried that maybe what you felt wasn't the same, but it is. Oh Ron," she cried happily, thrusting her left hand into his hair and giving him a fierce kiss. "I love you too. I love you so much it actually hurts. Can you feel it?" she asked, drawing the emotion forward and purposely trying to broadcast it outward. "Can you feel me?"
"BLOODY HELL!" Ron yelped, his eyes going wide when the happiness and the contentment he'd been feeling increased significantly. "Is that you?" he asked, staring at her and seeing the same adoration that was currently coursing through his body reflected back at him from her glassy eyes. "How are you.... stop it," he said, when his own eyes started to sting and he realized how much it was affecting him, before I do something girly like burst into tears, he continued in his head, shifting uncomfortably and averting his eyes as he tried to cope with the onslaught of emotions threatening to engulf him.
"It takes your breath away, doesn't it?" Hermione asked, smiling at him as a fresh stream of tears spilled down her cheeks. "It's one thing to hear the words," she whispered, "and another to actually feel them. I didn't expect it to be so strong. It's ...Oh Ron," she moaned, throwing herself against him and hugging him again tightly when she felt his embarrassment and the fear that was lurking beneath it. "You aren't going to lose me," she said, knowing that she'd hit the mark when his head jerked up. "I'm not going anywhere," she assured him. "This isn't just about protecting Harry or you or myself for that matter. This is what I want. You're the one that I want. I'm not going to change my mind about that. Even once the war is over, I'm not letting you go. You're stuck with me."
Until death do us part, he thought, but he couldn't bring himself to say it out loud. Why tempt fate? "You don't know that," he said instead. "You can't predict what's going to happen. You might not have a choice. I might not have a choice," he said, his voice breaking.
"DAMN IT!" Ron swore loudly. "Look what you've done," he said, rubbing his eyes. "You've turned me into a girl with all this emotional rubbish. I don't want to think about this. I don't want to talk about it and I most definitely don't want to feel it so stop sending that sympathetic pity shit my way."
"Pity?" Hermione snapped back. "I don't pity you, you daft git. I love you," although sometimes I have to ask myself why, "and when you're upset I want to comfort you. The two go hand in hand, so get used to it."
"I don't want to talk about it," he stated again. "Blokes don't get all feely and moan about their fears or their problems."
"Well maybe they should," Hermione shot back. "When was the last time brooding solved a problem?"
"You are such a girl sometimes," Ron groaned, flopping over on his back and covering his eyes with his arm.
"I was certain that you'd figured that out before now," Hermione teased, settling down beside him and resting her head on his chest. "How thick can you be?" she added, snuggling into him when he moved his arm off his face and wrapped it around her shoulder. "Do you feel better now?" she asked, meaning now that they'd had a nice bicker and things were back on familiar ground.
"Yeah," Ron replied with a yawn. "Thanks."
"Any time," Hermione assured him, closing her eyes and listening to the comforting rhythm of his heart thumping beneath her ear. "What time is it?" she asked after lying beside him in silence for a few minutes.
"Dunno," Ron mumbled groggily. "We've still got time," he added, not even bothering to open his eyes and look at his watch. Not that he would have been able to, since the arm he was wearing it on was wrapped around Hermione's back and he was too comfortable to go to all the trouble of moving it. "They won't be back for a while though. A short nap won't hurt. Wake me up in a half-hour," he mumbled, yawning again, "and we can have one more go before they get back."
"You're incorrigible," Hermione teased, hiding her smile against his chest.
"And you love it," he countered with a grin of his own. "I know. I can feel it."
You're right, she thought happily, but she decided it was best to keep the comment to herself and let him get some sleep. He was going to need it.
oooooooooo
"Ron?" A disembodied voice called out somewhere above him. "Wake up," it demanded.
"Fivemoreminutes," he grumbled, rolling over and turning his back to whoever was speaking to him. The fact that something was off about the voice didn't seep into Ron's fatigued until the person that was trying to rouse him poked him in the shoulder and spoke again.
"You're late," the voice said, this time much louder. "Get up!"
What the hell? Ron thought, finally realizing that the timbre of the voice speaking to him was much deeper than it should have been. "Mione?" he mumbled, rolling over and reaching for the spot where she had been sleeping.
"If you try and snog me in your sleep, I swear I'll deck you," Harry said, pulling his face away from Ron quickly and taking a step backwards. "Best mate or no best mate."
"Shuddup," the redhead shot back, now fully awake, despite his wishes. "You weren't the best mate I was hoping to find hovering over me when I woke up," he continued, opening his eyes and glancing around the room. "Where's Hermione?"
"Downstairs where it's safe," Harry shot back. "Now I see why she asked me to come up and get you. She was afraid you were going to attack her or something."
"Shuddup," Ron groaned again, sitting upright and running his fingers through his already tousled hair. "What did you wake me up for anyway?" he asked, staring at the closest window.
"I told you," Harry replied, studying his best friend closely and debating with himself about whether or not he ought to ask the question that had been on his mind all night, "she asked me to come up and get you. You're late."
"For what? It can't be time for classes yet. It's still dark outside."
"Yeah," Harry retorted with a soft laugh. "That darkness is called night, and on this particular night you happen to have rounds, so you might want to consider getting dressed before Hermione gets tired of waiting for you and sends Ginny up here to get you moving."
That definitely got Ron attention. The last thing he wanted was his sister barging into his room unannounced and catching him starkers. It was bad enough that she knew what he'd been doing. She didn't need to see any evidence of it. It might give her ideas of her own.
Pushing that thought aside, Ron flipped his covers back, jumped out of bed, and quickly threw on the clothes he'd been wearing earlier in the evening.
"So," Harry said, shifting back and forth a bit, but no longer able to contain himself. "Er... you and Hermione went through with it then?"
"Yup," Ron replied, purposely keeping his eyes on the trainers he was lacing up.
"So.. um...," Harry mumbled, "You're... um... married then? Congratulations."
"Thanks," Ron said, his ears flushing slightly when he looked up and realized his best mate was staring at him eagerly.
Oh, to hell with it. "So how was it?" Harry blurted out, his curiosity finally getting the better of him. "I mean, I don't want the details or anything," he added quickly, his face even darker than Ron's now. "Just, you know, how was it in general? Was it what you expected?"
oooooooooo
"It was...um..."
"Yes?" Ginny asked keenly, sitting on the very edge of her chair and leaning forward as if she couldn't wait for Hermione to answer her question. "Well, come on. How was it?"
"Er..." Hermione mumbled softly.
"Was it awful?" Ginny asked, making sure to keep her voice low so no one else would hear what the two of them were talking about. "I can't believe that you actually went through with it," she said, before her friend even had a chance to answer her. "Ron is such a prat sometimes and now you're stuck with him and... and... just tell me already. I'm dying here. What was it like."
"It was... um..."
"It was bad wasn't it?"
"It most certainly was not."
"So it was good then?" Ginny asked, her bright brown eyes twinkling in the firelight.
"Yes, it was perfectly lovely," Hermione assured her.
"Perfectly lovely eh?" Ginny said with a snort. "That's code for it sucked, but I don't want to hurt his feelings or damage his fragile ego."
"It is not," Hermione stated, shooting Ginny an indignant look as if she were the one that had just been insulted. "I was just trying to spare you the gory details because this is your brother we're talking about," she continued, "But if you really want to know it was..."
"Yes?" Ginny prodded. "It was..."
"It was hot," Hermione replied. Yes. I'd say that word sums it up nicely. Hot. Scorch the sheets, steam up the windows kind of hot.
oooooooooo
"Was it what I expected?" Ron asked, restating Harry's question while he cast around in his head searching for a way to describe his experience without revealing anything too personal about Hermione. "No," he finally answered, deciding that honesty was probably the best course of action. "It was better."
"Better?" Harry questioned, his green eyes going wide behind his glasses. He'd heard Dean and Seamus discuss it enough times, and even though he didn't believe half of what they said, he still had a fairly active imagination and if the real thing was better than what he could imagine, that was saying something.
"Oh yeah," Ron said, nodding his head back and forth as if to emphasize that fact. "It was...," he started, then stopped for a moment, searching for the perfect word to use. "It was bloody brilliant."
"Really?" Harry asked, mostly because he couldn't think of anything else to say. "Wow, that's... um... that's really great."
"Boy, I'll say," Ron muttered under his breath. "It was just... really intense, you know?" he said, after looking at his best friend closely and thinking about how curious he'd be if their positions were reversed. "It was different than ... well, you know, anything I could do to myself."
"What did she feel like?" Harry asked without thinking. He cringed almost as soon as the words left his mouth, wishing that he could take them back. Ron was extremely protective of Hermione. Hell, he was protective of Hermione. If either one of them heard another bloke talking about her in a questionable manner they'd take it upon themselves to defend her honor, even if that meant cursing the hell of the offending party. So Harry was more than a little surprised when Ron turned bright red, not with anger, but with embarrassment and actually fumbled out an answer to his question.
"Er... hot," he said, averting his eyes again. "Just... um... really really hot. And soft. It's...er... not really something that I can describe. I mean the words don't do it... do her justice. She was just...really really...um... hot."
oooooooooo
"Ron is a lot of things, but hot isn't one of them," Ginny scoffed.
"You're just blinded by the fact that he's your brother," Hermione shot back, hoping that the embarrassment she was feeling didn't show. "But he's... it was... Ok," she sighed, searching for a way to get her point across without giving Ginny too many details. "You know the way we fight?" she finally said. "Well, it was like that," she added, after her friend nodded her head. "When Ron and I argue we're totally focused on each other. When we row, Ron throws himself into it completely. He says and does whatever pops into his head. But he always seems to know exactly what button to push and when to push them. Once we get started it's like what we're arguing about doesn't really even matter anymore because it's moved beyond that and developed into a competition to see which one of us can push the other one over the edge first. Well, it was the same thing, only without the anger and with a little less screaming."
"EEEWWW YUCK!" Ginny cried, her entire face wrinkling up in revulsion at the mere thought of her brother being vocal in bed. "Too much information," she moaned, closing her eyes and holding up one hand to stop Hermione from going any further. "That's just... EEEWW! You made him scream? Gross. That's just... eeeww."
"You're the one that kept pushing," Hermione said in a serves you right kind of voice. "I warned you that you didn't really want to hear the details."
"So you went out of your way to make me sick just to prove that you were right?"
"I was right," Hermione chuckled. "You should have left it at 'perfectly lovely'."
"I hope you realize that I'll never be able to look at the two of you together again with having horrific flashes of the pair of you in some lust induced frenzy trying to see who'll cry uncle first."
"It wasn't like that," Hermione said, "It was..."
"Lovely," Ginny said quickly, cutting her off before she could finished. "Perfectly lovely. Yeah, I get it," she said, as Hermione glanced down at her watch and sighed loudly. "So, uh... which one of you actually did cry uncle first?" Ginny finally asked against her better judgment. She didn't really want to know and yet at the same time she did. If only it wasn't Ron we were talking about.
oooooooooo
"All right. I'm coming already. Hold your hippogriffs, will ya?" Ron mumbled to himself, grabbing his school robes and throwing them on when he felt Hermione's impatience surge through him. It's not like the rule breakers are going anywhere, he thought with a sigh, before disregarding the feeling and redirecting his full attention to Harry, who was looking at him oddly.
"Er... look Harry, can we, you know, finish this conversation later? I mean, I'm not trying to put you off or anything," Ron added before Harry had a chance to answer. "But you know how Hermione gets and she has a thing about being late for rounds."
"Right," Harry replied, nodding his head in understanding. "You better get going then. You're already late."
"We can finish this when I get back," Ron said, as he followed his best friend out of their dorm room and into the hall. "As long as Finnigan isn't within earshot."
oooooooooo
"Speak of the devil," Ginny said, taking in the wide smile on Hermione's face, then glancing over her shoulder to find her brother and Harry descending the stairs. "So much for girl talk," she griped as Hermione jumped up and hurried over to meet the two boys at the foot of the stairs.
"Mmmm, you smell good," Ron said, placing both of his hands on her waist and pulling her against him as soon as she was within range. "Sorry I kept you waiting," he whispered. "I thought you were going to wake me up."
"I decided to take a bath instead," Hermione replied, shrugging her shoulders and biting her lips to hold back her laughter when he started to pout like a petulant child that had missed out on a treat. "You really are incorrigible," she whispered into his ear, her cheeks blooming with color when she felt his arousal shoot through her.
My god, she thought. All I had to do was mention the word bath. Is it really that easy?
"Didn't we already establish that fact?" he asked, leaning forward to give her a quick kiss.
"There will be none of that while we're on rounds," Hermione scolded, yanking her head back and pushing him away before he could reach her lips.
"But we're not on rounds yet," he replied with a lopsided smile.
"Sickening, aren't they?" Ginny said, looking at Harry and pretending to shove her finger down her throat.
"Maybe not," Hermione said, disregarding Ginny's comment and addressing Ron's instead. "But the first year rule is still in effect," she stated.
"Bloody first years," Ron grumbled under his breath, unintentionally transmitting his frustration and annoyance to Hermione, who immediately frowned.
"What's the first year rule?" Harry asked, looking at Ron and then Ginny, who shrugged her shoulders.
"You know Hermione and her blasted rules," Ron gripped. "I'm not allowed to touch her in front of the first years. Isn't that the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard?"
"It is not ridiculous," Hermione snapped. "And you are allowed to touch me, just not in a way that is inappropriate."
"Meaning I can't touch her," Ron said to Harry.
"We're Prefects."
"So bloody what?"
"Oh, I get it," Ginny chimed in. "You're afraid that it will diminish your standing in their eyes. You're worried they'll lose respect for you if they know you have a boyfriend and do things like snog in empty classrooms."
"No," Hermione objected, "It's because they're eleven and it will.."
"Gross them out," Ron finished, rolling his eyes as he restated the excuse she'd given him. "Yeah, whatever," he added, knowing full well that his sister's explanation was a lot closer to the mark.
"It grosses me out," Ginny informed them.
"That's just a fringe benefit," her brother retorted, his whole face lighting up.
"Are you going to instate a 'Ginny' rule?" she continued, as if she hadn't heard him.
"Yeah, the snog in front of Ginny whenever you want her to bugger off rule," Ron replied, smiling at his own joke. "I actually like the sound of that one. Can we instate a Ginny rule?" he asked Hermione.
"Oh, you're hilarious," Ginny snapped. "Too bad it'll apply to Harry as well."
"No, it won't," Ron argued. "We don't snog in front of Harry and we don't want him to bugger off, just you."
"Ron!" Hermione hissed, smacking him in the shoulder. "That's not true," she said to Ginny. "Come on," she said, pushing Ron towards the portrait hole, before he came up with another reason to take his frustration out on his sister. "We need to get going, we're already late. We'll be back around midnight," she said to Harry, just before they crossed the threshold and disappeared from view.
oooooooooo
Seeing as how Gryffindor Tower was located on the seventh floor, the Gryffindor Prefects usually started their rounds at the top of the castle and worked their way down through the lower levels. Of course most of the student population knew this, just like they all knew that the Slytherin and the Hufflepuff Prefects started in the sublevels and worked their way up. Knowing which Prefects were on patrol on any given night and what route they took was something any successful rule breakers could tell you. Hogwarts was a big place after all, and even with Flich and Mrs. Norris prowling around, it was still a fairly easy matter to avoid being seen. Especially when the rule breaker in question happened to have an invisibility cloak at his disposal.
He could follow the caretaker down the corridors all night long if he wanted to, and Filch would never know the difference. Unless that blasted cat was with him and she usually was. But it didn't matter. He didn't sneak out after curfew just to follow that pathetic Squib around. He had far more important business to attend to and if all went as he expected, the school could very well be short two Gryffindor Prefects by this time tomorrow.
oooooooooo.
"Wha?" Ron said thickly, turning away from the platter of goodies two house elves were offering him and spinning around to look at Hermione, who had already finished eating the sandwich she'd made for herself and was waiting for him by the kitchen door. "What's so amusing?" he asked after swallowing the remains of the eclair he'd shoved in his mouth just before she'd burst out laughing. "Spotted someone out after curfew did you?" he asked, when he noted the Marauder's Map clutched in her hands. That explained the exhilaration and the sensation of triumphant glee that had unexpectedly jolted through him.
"I've got a present for you," she said, a huge smile plastered across her face as she looked up from the map and met Ron's gaze.
"There is something really wrong with you being this excited about catching someone else breaking the rules."
"This isn't just someone," she said, grabbing his hand and dragging him out of the kitchen before he had a chance to snatch up anymore sweets.
oooooooooo
"If you aren't going to tell me who it is, will you at least tell me where we're going?" Ron asked, when they bypassed the classrooms on the first, second, and third floors and continued on to the fourth.
"The Library," Hermione answered, as she hurried along ahead of him. "No, wait," she amended, glancing down at the map again and stopping abruptly. "We have to go back to the stairs," she said, spinning around and pushing past him. "He's on the fifth floor now."
"Who is?" Ron asked, yet again. "Aw come on," he moaned, changing directions and following after her when she didn't reply. "Just tell me already. This isn't exactly my idea of a fun surprise. It's not like you can ruin it for me."
"He's already reached the Prefect's Bathroom," Hermione said, whether to herself or to him, Ron wasn't really sure.
"So it's another Prefect you chasing?" he sighed. "Hey, wait a minute," he said, a new thought occurring to him. "You can't just barge in on some bloke in the bath. Even if it is after curfew. Especially if it's in the Prefect's Bathroom, he thought, images of the things he'd like to do with Hermione in that pool sized tub springing to mind. "You wouldn't want someone doing that to us if we were the ones in there together."
"He isn't going to take a bath," she stated, "He's... I think he's looking for someone."
"Who?"
"Us."
"WHAT!"
"We missed the feast. Everyone noticed. Ginny told me. Seamus and Neville told everyone that you were sick my the way," she added, almost as if it were an afterthought.
Of course he noticed, she continued in her head. And now he's checking all of the places he thinks we might go to snog. He's hoping to catch us shirking our responsibilities so he can get us in trouble. Well, I've got news for him.
"Come on," she said, increasing her pace. "If we hurry we might be able to get ahead of him and catch him at the next logical spot," Hermione said, grabbing Ron's hand to prevent him from slowing down as they sped up the stairwell.
"Which is?" Ron demanded.
"The Room of Requirement."
oooooooooo.
"Accio invisibility cloak!" Hermione shouted, pointing her wand at the doorway leading into the Room of Requirement, when it appeared out of nowhere, seemingly of it's own accord, opened, closed again, and then disappeared.
"Well, well, well," Ron jeered, leaning back against the moving tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy and pointing his wand at a Draco Malfoy, who had just materialized in the corridor in front of them. "What have we got here?" he asked, a huge smile plastered across his face. "Looks like the ferret thought he could sneak around the castle after hours and not get caught. I don't care what anyone else says," he stated jubilantly. "Revenge IS sweet!"
"Well then by all means, be my guest," Hermione chuckled, balling Malfoy's invisibility cloak up and shoving it under her arm as he glared at her murderously.
"I'm a prefect," Malfoy hissed, redirecting his attention to Ron, who was still holding him at wand point. "You can't give me detention."
"Oh, but I can," Ron sang out triumphantly. "In fact, I just did. Consider yourself notified."
"You're free to take it up with the head of your house, of course," Hermione chimed in with a smug look of her own. "You can bet we'll be handing this invisibility cloak over to ours."
"I have permission to be..."
"Bollocks," Ron cut him off. "You wouldn't have been hiding beneath that cloak if you'd had permission, which means your arse is mine."
"Ours," Hermione corrected him.
"All right, fine," the redhead conceded. "Ours. I say we stun him and float his busted arse down to McGonagall, then sit back and watch while she rips him a new one. What do you say?" he asked Hermione.
"Well, I did say this one was all yours," she replied. "Although technically we can't stun him," she added regretfully. "Unless he resists or tries to make a run for it. But I doubt he's thick enough to try something like that. So," she said, pointing her own wand at Malfoy, "I believe you know the way."