Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
"What's all this about, then?" Ron's cheeks were getting splotchier by the minute, a clear sign that he was rapidly becoming agitated. Hermione wiped away her tears, sat up quite straight and glared at the redhead.
"Ronald Weasley! Exactly where have you been?!" Ron flinched.
"I was at work-"
"Oh don't you give me that! You've been late coming home more and more often and now you're not even returning in your uniform! Where are you going after your shift ends, hm? What the bloody fuck are you doing every night?" Hermione was practically panting with rage while Ron just looked at her like she grew a second head. She was against cursing-according to her, there were much more intelligent ways of getting the point across without crass language.
"I've already-"
"The truth, Ronald." Her voice, strangely similar to Molly Weasley in that moment, must have rattled Ron beyond thought because the next words out of his mouth had Harry and Hermione both paralyzed with shock.
"Alright, alright! I've been going to see Romilda after work, Merlin woman, calm down." Oddly enough, Hermione went quite calm after that.
"Have you slept with her?" Ron hesitated, then nodded before looking down at the floor. The three let the silence hang between them for much longer than necessary before Hermione stood. She walked right past Ron to the fireplace, threw in some floo powder and called out "The Burrow!" before turning back to Ron and pointing at the floo.
"You're going to tell your mother you're moving back in with her. And you're going to tell her why. And believe me, I will know if you have not been honest with her tonight. I'll send your things shortly."
"But you can't just kick me out like this-"
"The hell I can't!" Hermione's anger was back full force, scaring Ron enough that he physically backed up a step. "Get out of my home. You've hurt me in an unforgivable way. Get. Out." With that, Ron stepped right back into the green flames. He hadn't even tried to look to Harry for backup, telling Harry everything he needed to know. Ron knew what he was doing was wrong, and he was doing it anyway.
Hermione went back to the couch and sat down before the tears started to fall again.
"Are you sure you'll be alright on your own tonight Hermione? You're more than welcome to stay with Draco and I, or I can stay here if that would help."
"No, no. I'm much better now than I was. Besides, now I know for sure and I'm not stuck wondering about 'what if's' anymore." With one last reminder that she could come by anytime day or night, Harry left. He felt guilty for doing so, but Hermione was incredibly independent. If she wanted to have some time to herself, she was allowed to have just that. As long as she fully understood that she could come to Harry no matter what.
"I thought you'd never get home! The contractor is-"
"Ron's been cheating on Hermione, he admitted it to her while I was there. That's why I'm late." Draco's jaw dropped just before a gasp was heard behind him. Harry looked to the chair the noise had come from and saw Neville sitting there.
"Merlin, aren't they married?" Harry shook his head as Draco started to answer.
"Hermione kept telling him she didn't want to get married because to Ron's mother that meant they were going to have kids soon and Hermione didn't want to settle down quite that much for another few years. Completely valid, if you ask me. I remember that woman's howlers she'd send her kids, I can very much imagine her demanding they have children as soon as the rings are exchanged."
Neville, it seemed, couldn't imagine Ron cheating on Hermione.
"Nev, the thing is…Ron doesn't really think about the consequences if he's put into certain situations. He's always been a bit idiotic if there's cleavage involved-and if Romilda is anything now like she was back at school there was likely cleavage in spades. He doesn't think about the consequences in the moment, he thinks about them when the consequences are affecting him when it's too late. I'm shocked he let it go that far, but I can't say that I can very well imagine him doing exactly what he admitted." Harry sat down with a huff on the couch and put his head in his hands whilst his arms rested on his knees.
"I can't bloody believe my best friend cheated on my other best friend. I now either have to pick a side, or I have to walk a very thin line." He felt the couch sink next to him and leaned into Neville's chest, a feeling he was fast becoming used to. "What do I even do?"
"You support Hermione as best as you can. She's hurting terribly and needs friends to help her through what's undoubtedly going to be a rough patch in her life. And you hear Ron out. See if he truly regrets it or if he's just sad that his girlfriend found out. That alone will tell you whether or not it's even worth trying to keep your friendship with him intact." Harry nodded and yawned.
"I'm bushed. Dra-"
"Oh no," Draco called from the kitchen. "You're not having me tie you up again, you have Neville for that now! Besides," he continued while putting down a tumbler of firewhiskey. "I have contractors to email and city workers to butter up so they can approve this permit faster."
"Ugh, fat load of help you are." Draco merely winked before opening his laptop and propping his feet up on the ottoman.
"Too right you are, lad. Neville, would you be kind enough to tie Harry up so he can get a decent night's sleep? Of course you would. Now off you two go, just remember to put up a silencing charm if you don't mind." And with that, Draco was consumed with emails and notifications.
"You don't really have to help."
"Nonsense! I'll follow you, I'm not really sure which room is yours." Harry led the way and flushed at the mess he left his room when he realized just how much of a state it was in. "Now, tell me what you like to help you sleep." Harry shrugged, suddenly shy. They sat down on his bed, Harry with his legs crossed in the middle and Neville leaning against the footboard with his legs outstretched.
"Mostly I just like gentle pressure. Nothing that'll cause damage if I move too much in my sleep, and I like the feeling of silk best." He summoned a cherry chestnut box with black filigree and passed it to Neville. "I really like these the best, but Draco doesn't like them. He says they're too hard to get to stay in the right places because of how silky they are so I don't get to use them much."
Neville opened the little chest to find the long sashes of moonga silk, all dyed indigo blue. Neville lifted one only to have it fall between his fingers like water.
"It's moonga silk, they special dyed a batch for me in India where I got them from. They were pricey, but they're worth every single knut and more."
"I'd love to see if I can get them to cooperate for you, if you're up to it." Harry nodded.
"Yes, please."
"What else would help? Snuggles, blankets, being left alone, music?"
"Really I just want to be tied up and held while I fall asleep. You can leave after that if you want or you can stay the night, I don't mind either way. Today's been hard on my nerves." Neville nodded, and then asked a question Harry was completely unprepared for.
"Do you want to be in clothes or not?" Harry blushed furiously before shaking his head.
"I'd like to feel as much of that silk as I can, honestly."
"Fair enough. What places do you not want to be tied up?" Harry couldn't help it, he started giggling and blushing. But he knew he had to keep talking if he wanted anything to happen at all so he powered through his embarrassment.
"I don't have any limits to what you can and can't tie today. As long as I have a range of motion that won't cut off circulation if I start tossing and turning in the night then I'm fine with it. If you leave before I'm awake I'll need to be able to untie myself, otherwise you'll have to untie me when I wake up. That's really about it." Neville nodded and instructed him to strip and to stand so he could start.
They stood with Harry's back to Neville's chest, but before Harry ever felt the cool slide of silk he felt Neville's breath on his ear.
"Safewords?" The whisper sent shivers down his spine.
"Green for good, yellow for a moment to talk and red for stop." He sounded far too breathless for his liking, but Neville seemed to like it from the deep chuckle that rumbled from his chest.
"Good job. Now, arms out for me." And then the slide of silk finally wrapped around him.
The strips were fairly wide, meaning Neville only needed a few crossing sections to really cover all of Harry's body. The center of each strip pulled slightly tighter than the rest, causing quite a nice sensation and by the time his chest and arms were covered in silk, he was delighted.
The goal wasn't subspace, and he wasn't particularly close to achieving that but given the right scenario he could definitely see himself blacking out in pleasure like this. For now, this was emotional support not emotional overload.
He was broken out of his meditative state by Neville spreading his legs to wrap silk into the junctions of his thighs and groin and to cross over his bum to create, what he assumed to be, a rather pleasing display. When he was covered in silk from head to toe, Neville brought him back-to-chest like they had been before. His hands wrapped around Harry's torso for one to cover his chest and the other to cover his lower abdomen. In that moment, he felt incredibly safe.
"Beautiful," Neville whispered. Harry smiled and let himself be led to bed before Neville started weaving silk between his legs to hold them together, albeit loosely. . The same was done to his arms in front of him, again quite loosely. He could still move, just not very far.
He heard clothes being dropped to the floor before Neville climbed into bed and pulled him close. The lights went out and Harry drifted to sleep.