A knock at the door jolted me awake. My arms were wrapped around Hermione, who was still sleeping soundly. Maybe they'll go away. Another knock at the door. Bloody hell, who needed us at eight in the morning? I was used to not having a lie-in when I was home, but just once, I'd like to wake up on my own.
"Ron, Hermione, are you awake? We brought you breakfast in bed!" My mother's cheery voice could be heard from the other side of the door.
"Er, one second!" I said through a still groggy voice.
My mum only brought breakfast in bed when she had a proposal or wanted something from me. I turned to Hermione, knowing I needed to wake her. Grazing my hand gently against her face, I whispered, "Morning, sunshine," into her ear. She groaned at me and started to turn around when I said, "we have visitors."
That was enough for her to open her eyes and look at me wildly. "What?"
"Mum's brought us breakfast in bed. I didn't want to invite her in before you were awake."
"Are you decent yet?" Muriel's voice jut in.
Hermione quickly rubbed the sleep from her eyes and pulled the quilt up to cover her enough before nodding at me.
"You can come in now," I called.
The door swung open, and Mum and Muriel came in, carrying a large tray full of homemade cinnamon rolls and freshly squeezed orange juice. They looked and smelled heavenly. I definitely missed Mum's cooking when I wasn't home.
"That looks delicious!" Hermione said. "But we could have come downstairs for breakfast."
"Nonsense, dear!" Mum said, waving her off after she set the tray on the nightstand next to Hermione.
"I see you two had some fun last night," Muriel commented.
I realized that our clothes were still strewn about the room. Neither of us had remembered to pick them up afterwards. Maybe it was a good thing, though. It gave more evidence to support our marriage hoax.. My mind began wandering to images of last night, and I did my best to push them aside. I couldn't think about that while my mum and aunt were in the room.
"Listen, you two, we were thinking," Mum said. I instantly knew this wasn't going to be good. "I know we were all quite surprised and a bit disappointed that we weren't there for your actual wedding. So, Muriel had a wonderful idea. We've already had her party planned for tomorrow, but we wanted to throw you both a vow renewal and celebration instead!"
"W-what?" Hermione squeaked.
"No! Aunt Muriel, it's your day!" I intervened quickly.
"Yes, we couldn't possibly take that away from you!" Hermione added.
"Nonsense!" Muriel waved us off. "I've had 89 birthdays, I don't need another one! But everyone wants a chance to celebrate you two. Give us a chance to be part of your day."
Hermione and I shared a wary look. A vow renewal could mean a lot of different things. The whole charade was beginning to become more real than either of us had ever intended it to be. Not only with this whole celebration proposal but also with the line we'd crossed last night.
"Please? You don't know how much time I have left on this earth. Give me a chance to see my favorite nephew commit himself to the love of his life," Muriel persuaded.
"Well, we can't say no to that, can we, Ron?" Hermione asked me as she leaned into my side.
I adjusted my arm to place it around her. "A vow renewal it is, then," I said, doing my best to sound more enthusiastic than terrified.
"Wonderful! Now, Goldstein's is open until three, so you should go and finally pick out those rings! No more excuses," Muriel said as she clapped her hands. "We'll leave you two alone."
"Enjoy your breakfast. We'll see you in a bit," Mum said happily.
As they shut the door behind them, Ron immediately turned to Hermione. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize telling them would result in an impromptu second wedding celebration," I said with air quotes around the word second.
"How could either of us have known?" Hermione said weakly. "Have they arranged for an officiant or anything yet?"
I thought for a moment, wondering why she'd be asking that. "I don't know. I can ask. Are you worried about the license issue as well?"
"Yes," Hermione said, her eyebrows furrowed together.
"Even if they wanted the certificate as proof, we'd have to go to London to retrieve it," I countered.
"That's true. Maybe no one will ask."
"And it'd just be a vow renewal, not an actual wedding, so it'd still be a ruse. There'd be no—er—nothing legally binding us together."
My heart clenched, and I didn't know why. I wanted to talk to her about last night. I knew that part of it was because both of us hadn't been intimate in a while, but I meant what I told her. There was something about her that was completely captivating me, and I was craving more.
"So we'll be okay, then. We'll pick out a cheaper set of rings, and we'll put it on my credit card. I got you into this mess. I don't expect you to buy that."
"It's fine, Hermione—"
"No, it's not! This is getting messier and messier!"
Was she talking about keeping up the story for our families, or was she implying that she regretted last night? For some reason, I really hoped it wasn't the latter. I was trying not to focus on the idea that I might actually feel more for her than just friendship, but I was starting to realize that I could be in denial.
I watched as Hermione leaned over and picked up a cinnamon roll, and took a bite. "Your mum is the best cook I've ever known!"
I laughed as I leaned over her to take one for myself. I paused, hovering over her, and resisted the urge to lean in and kiss her despite how tempted I was. Her lips were still slightly swollen from our heated endeavors last night.
"She really is, isn't she?" I agreed as I sat back against the headboard.
"I better start taking lessons from your mum, then," Hermione said with a small smile.
"Why?" I paused mid-bite, looking at her peculiarly.
"Well, isn't the way to a man's heart through his stomach? I wouldn't want you to leave me for another woman because I'm hopeless in the kitchen," she said lightly.
I watched her closely, wondering whether this was just our normal banter or if there was actually an ounce of truth in her words. Was she saying that maybe she wanted more, too? Did last night mean something significant to her as well?
"Well, I hate to break it to you, Hermione, but I already know how hopeless you are in the kitchen," I said through a grin. "I haven't abandoned you yet, have I?"
I watched as she laughed, but I noticed that the lighthearted sound didn't quite match the look her eyes had, which held a hint of sadness in them. What could that be about?
"I'm going to go take a walk and clear my head. I'll be back in a bit," she said suddenly.
I didn't want her to go, but she seemed determined to get out of here at that moment, and I didn't want to push the issue. She grabbed a change of clothes and disappeared into the bathroom before leaving me alone.
HermioneIt wasn't that I wanted to leave him, but I had so many things to say and didn't know where to start. I couldn't get the images of last night out of my mind, and my heart, along with other parts, were begging for more. My brain, on the other hand, was doing it's best to convince me that it was all because he felt sorry for me. I didn't know what to believe. So, I decided I needed to get out of there before I made things worse.
I slipped out of the house and began walking on the grounds. Their property extended to a wooded area nearby with a clear path. I decided to follow the path for a while and resolved to turn back if it didn't connect on its own.
We'd slept together. The words continued repeating in my mind as I saw him hovering over me, felt his lips against my own, and his hands exploring my body. I'd never felt that way with a man before, and of course, it was Ron. My assistant. My only work friend for the last three years. The only friend who was crazy enough to pretend to be married to me to save me from my own delusional mother.
And now, we were going to go through with some ridiculous 'vow renewal' tomorrow because his family had been so disappointed that they weren't there for our nonexistent elopement. How was I okay with going through with this? It wasn't fair to his family! Hell, it wasn't fair to him! Especially after what had transpired last night. I needed to know what was going on between us. Did we actually have a shot at—
I heard a drumbeat sound up ahead and paused. There was smoke, too, from what I could see and smell when I took a deep breath. What was going on? I thought this was the Weasley's private property. I slowly walked closer to the location of the sound and was shocked at what I saw. Muriel was down in a clearing, and it looked like she was...chanting something?
I took a few steps closer to get a better look. It was the most bizarre thing I'd ever seen. She was dancing around the smoldering pit, and I was about to head back when she spotted me.
"Hermione! It's me, Muriel!"
"Oh, um, I didn't mean to bother you. I was just out for a stroll—"
"No need to apologize, dear! Come join me. I was just saying my thanks to the spirits."
Was Muriel senile? Or did she just have an eccentric, spiritual side to her? "Oh, no, thank you! I really should get going—"
"The spirits have clearly led you here to me, so please join us. They insist on it!" Muriel said sternly. She moved her hands in a motion, throwing something on the smoke to make it burst suddenly into flames.
"Alright, alright!" I said, quickly making my way over to her.
There was no way I was going to cross her. Muriel had a wireless that was playing various drum sounds in the background. It didn't seem out of place exactly, but I was still trying to wrap my head around what was going on. Did she do this often?
"Very good! Now, I was just thanking them for bringing you and Ron together and am urging them to bless you both with a very fertile future."
I felt my face pale at her words as I was reminded of our reckless night last night. Muriel continued her movements to the beats around the fire.
"Join me, dear! Move to the sound of the drums. Let the beat take you wherever it leads."
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe I should just watch…"
"Nonsense!" Muriel said as she grabbed my arms and forced me to move. "Appease the spirits!"
Begrudgingly, I started to move, albeit rather stiffly, around the fire. I attempted to mirror Muriel's movements as I listened to the sound of the drums. The beat made me think of a song I'd heard recently. It was on my list of 'pump up' tunes for when I'd go for a run to let off steam. I started to move to the beat of the music that started playing in my head.
"This my shit, this my shit," I muttered under my breath, hearing the lyrics come out of my mouth. "Few times I been around that track, so it's not just gon' happen like that. Cause I ain't no hollaback girl, I ain't no hollaback girl."
I started getting into it a little more as I began moving and dancing more frantically around the fire. Muriel gave me an odd look, but urged me on as she tried to keep up with my movement.
"Let me hear you say this shit is bananas: B-A-N-A-N-A-S. This shit is bananas! B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Again, this shit is bananas: B-A-N-A-N-A-S. This shit is bananas: B-A-N-A-N-A-S.!"
By this point, I was singing loudly and was moving and shaking more wildly than I usually allowed myself to do around other people. But, I'd been keeping everything bottled up since Wednesday evening, and I guess I'd reached the point where it was all spilling out. After all, this entire ruse was indeed bananas, but no one else needed to know. I rounded back on the refrain again since I couldn't remember the other parts of the song.
"Few times I been around that track, so it's not just gon' happen like that. Cause I ain't no hollaback girl, I ain't no hollaback girl. Oo-oh, this my shit, this my shit. Oo-oh this my shit, this my—"
"How's it going over there?"
I stopped abruptly and looked up to see Ron leaning against a tree, his arms folded across his chest. A smirk was gracing his face. My god, why'd he have to look so sexy standing there, catching me as I was making a complete fool of myself?
"Oh! We were just—er…"
"Hermione and I were chanting to the spirits," Muriel said, not missing a beat as she continued her own chanting.
"Ah. Well, as intriguing as that sounds, do you want to head into town? Get our errands done?"
"Yes!" I said quickly. "If the spirits are okay for me to go?"
Muriel shooed me off. "Yes! Go, go!"
I walked back over to the path as Ron and I began walking back toward the house. "Do I even want to ask what that was about?"
"She told me to feel the music!" I defended.
"Yeah, but Hollaback girl? Really?" He laughed good-naturedly.
"Oh, come off it," I tried to sound nonchalant even though I knew my cheeks were burning in embarrassment as I playfully punched his arm.
I was surprised when he outstretched his own arm and wrapped it around my shoulder as we walked in-step with each other. My heart skipped a beat. We were alone, so technically, he didn't have to do this. Not that I was complaining.
"So, I was thinking of showing you around after we take care of the ring situation."
"Oh?"
"If you wanted to, of course."
"Y-yes," I said, somewhat surprised by his offer. "Do I at least have time to freshen up before we head out?"
He chuckled again. "Yeah, I suppose. All that dancing work up a sweat, did it?"
"This stays between us, alright? I don't need your family knowing about all that. I have a reputation to uphold." I stopped walking and slid out of his arm that was still around me, but he caught my hand in his.
He pulled me into his embrace. "I suppose I can do that. It was nice to see you let loose for once. I didn't know you had it in you."
"You'd be surprised," I said, a cocky smile playing across my face.
It was met with a smirk of his own as he leaned in closer. I had to remind myself to keep breathing.
"You know, I think I already know…" I knew he was referring to last night as he leaned in and drew me in for a kiss.
It was all I could do to keep my wits about me and not completely melt into him. I pulled away before we could get carried away and did my best to give him a seductive look as I took off down the path, leaving him standing there. I couldn't let him know what he was doing to me.
This wasn't going to end well for our friendship or work relationship if I couldn't get my shit together. There was no way I was actually falling for Ron Weasley. If I kept telling myself that, it'd be true eventually, right?