Ron stepped out of the bathtub, where he had spent several minutes scrubbing away the dirt from his body that had collected over the past two days. He wrapped a towel around his waist and examined his reflection in the mirror above the sink. Ron ran his fingers through his wet hair, pulling it from his face. He dragged his fingers and his thumb down his jaw, allowing the prickles along his unshaven skin to poke at his fingertips. He found a razor among the clatter of the seven-person bathroom and began to tidy up his wayward facial hair. When he finished, he splashed water over his clean-shaven face. Remnants of the foamy shaving cream dripped off his chin and into the sink. He looked again to his reflection in the mirror and stared hard at his new mustache, then back down at the razor.

"Is it even worth it to try to remove you?" he asked it hopelessly through the mirror.

He ran the razor over one corner of the mustache. Little red hairs dropped down into the sink. Ron checked the mirror for evidence of a hairless upper lip, only to find new hairs sprouting.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." He said, tossing the razor aside. He quickly got dressed in some clean clothes and headed downstairs to find his friends.

The Weasley family living room looked much tidier than it had before their meal. The floor that had been cluttered with their belongings was now cleared of any mess. There was no longer any evidence of the attack that the home had been subjected to. While the room was in dire need of a thorough dusting, the house was beginning to look the way Ron had always known it to.

Lazed on the couch were Harry and Hermione. They both sat facing one another, leaning into the back of the couch and propping their tired heads up with their hands. Ginny sat in a chair beside them, resting her head against her knee. She looked up when she noticed that Ron had entered the room.

"Finally." She said, standing from her chair. She had been waiting patiently for her turn to shower.

"Oi, d'you know how many times I've had a hot shower over the past nine months?" he smiled to her.

"Yeah, yeah." She laughed walking from the room. Ron nudged his sister as she passed.

Harry and Hermione had already showered and changed into clean, comfortable clothes. They were speaking quietly and flipping through Hermione's copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Hermione's beaded bag rested atop the side table. Ron walked towards them and Hermione lowered the book as he approached. They both looked to him and smiled. Ron took a seat on the floor in front of the couch, resting his arms over his bent knees. Harry passed the open book to Ron. Written on the page was the symbol of The Deathly Hallows.

"He found the stone." Said Hermione through her sleepy amusement.

"You found the stone?" Ron looked between them feeling both excitement and bemusement.

"Tomorrow." laughed Harry drowsily.

Ron laughed. "Yeah, tomorrow." He agreed.

Hermione inhaled deeply, and stared out the window. "Feels like we just left yesterday." Hermione's voice trailed off as she gazed out into the garden.

"Yeah." Said Harry slowly, as though he was in disbelief of what they had accomplished in the time that they were gone. "But we did it." Harry added. Ron nodded as Harry spoke.

"Gosh…" He heard Hermione speak faintly, as he watched her staring aimlessly out the window.

Harry leaned back and rested his head against the arm of the couch. Ron looked to him and realized that Harry once again had two eyebrows.

"Hermione, did you take off that eyebrow of Harry's?" Ron asked her.

"Yeah, took her a few tries." Laughed Harry, his eyes now closed.

"It's a really well made product!" Hermione defended herself, turning away from the window to look at Harry.

"Can you get rid of this one, too?" asked Ron, pointing to his lip.

"Yes." Hermione laughed as she stood from the couch.

He stood up and Hermione held his chin still, directing her wand to his face. He tried not to move as he watched her concentrating. His lip began to tingle and Hermione wiped away at it with her fingers. The little red hairs fell from his face and disintegrated.

"All set." She smiled to him.

"Brilliant." Said Ron as he ran his fingers across his face.

They both turned back to Harry and before either of them spoke, they realized that Harry, breathing peacefully, had gently drifted to sleep. Ron reached to the chair where a warm crocheted blanket was folded over the arm. He picked it up and passed it to Hermione. She held it up high and let it fall from its folds, then waved it through the air, watching it fall gently over Harry. Ron saw Hermione step back from the couch but couldn't muster up the courage to look at her. He suddenly realized that they were finally alone. And although being alone with Hermione was all he had wanted for the past twelve hours, he was now beginning to feel nervous about it. Without moving, Ron glanced sideways to Hermione. As she came into his view, he saw her turn her head and look up to him.

"Ron, you're blushing." Hermione said, smiling up to him.

"I'm not." He smirked. He could feel his ears burning.

She stretched up onto the tips of her toes and gently kissed his pink cheek. Ron smiled and turned to her when she dropped back down to her feet. He placed the palm of his hand to the side of her face and brushed his thumb over her soft her skin. She closed her eyes as he caressed her.

"Come on." He said, tilting his head towards the doorway that lead the way out of the room. He dropped his hand from her face and took her hand.

"Umm, sleep tight, Harry." Whispered Hermione, quickly glancing back towards him. She swept up her little bag from the table as she and Ron rushed together from the room.

Ron led her to the staircase and they came to a stop at the bottom of the steps. Charlie, who was descending the staircase looked to them both as he approached. He stepped to the side, giving them room to pass and Ron moved back to allow Hermione to climb the stairs before him. Charlie looked Ron dead in the eye and gave him a subtle smirk. Ron nodded awkwardly to his brother and hurried after Hermione.

Ahead, Ron could see the end of the staircase before his bedroom. Hermione hopped from one step to the next and Ron chased after her. She reached the platform as Ron climbed the final steps. Hermione spun around on the spot and threw her arms around Ron's neck. Their lips met as Ron stepped off the staircase, his hands gripping each side of her body. He could feel her lips curling into a smile. Her arms tightened around his neck as he pulled her against him. He opened his eyes and glanced sideways as he reached a hand out in search of the doorknob. He found it and twisted it open. He walked towards the room with Hermione still in his hands, his lips still pressed to hers. She laughed through their kisses as they tried to move without breaking apart. They stumbled backwards and fell through the door, into his room at the top of the house. Immediately, they broke apart.

"What in the BLOODY HELL is that?" Shouted Ron. He was overcome by a sickening smell that was permeating his bedroom.

The warm sun had heated Ron's room to an uncomfortable temperature as it so often did. On this particular day however, much to Ron's irritation, the heat was worse than it had ever been, simply because it made the repulsive smell so prominent in the thick air that it became difficult to breath.

"It's the bed, Ron." Said Hermione walking towards it. "The blankets, they're covered in dry puss from the blisters you put on the ghoul." Her face was scrunched up with disgust.

"Ughhhh." Ron expressed his revulsion with a very agonizing groan. "They're rubbish now." He said as he looked down at his Chudley Cannons blanket with disappointment.

"They can be cleaned." Hermione told him, not sounding convincing at all. She walked over to the window and forced it open. Warm breeze blew through and swept the smell of spring into the room.

"You go get some clean blankets. I'll take these ones off." She said as she opened her beaded handbag. She yawned as she dug her arm inside.

Ron cussed the puss-covered ghoul as he walked from his bedroom. He could have kissed her right through to tomorrow.

When Ron returned with some clean bed linens, Hermione had changed into a pair of pajamas. A folded pair for Ron had been placed on top of his dresser. She was stripping his bed of the old smelly sheets and began bundling them up in a ball. She dropped the wad of blankets on the ground and turned to Ron.

"They might be a bit big." He said, staring down at the sheets.

"They'll do." Hermione smiled as she lifted them from his hands. "I left some clean pajamas out for you." She nodded to the dresser.

"Yeah, thanks." He said watching her walk over to the bed, where she began fitting the sheets to it.

He had lost count of the times he had changed into different clothes while Hermione was near by. Still, Ron felt slightly embarrassed as he removed his shirt and replaced it with one for sleeping. He glanced to Hermione every so often to make sure she was looking in a different direction.

Ron stepped out of his jeans and into his flannel pajamas, then kicked the other clothes to the side of his room. The fresh breeze from outside had cut through the stale air at the top of the house, and the sunshine blazed through the window. Hermione spread a nice clean quilt over Ron's bed and smoothed out the wrinkles. Ron opened his bedroom door, grabbed the piled of dirty bed sheets and tossed them on the floor outside his room. He shut the door and turned to Hermione.

"Much better!" she laughed.

Ron laughed too, but didn't say anything. He looked nervously around his room before settling his gaze back on her. They both stood silently, looking at each other and smiling coyly. Ron decided he should move towards her, instead of standing uncomfortably across the room. He walked towards her and looked down to her face when they met. He could feel the sunshine spreading its warmth over his skin.

His heartbeat sped up as they came closer together. Hermione placed one of her hands to his chest and he leaned in towards her. He stared momentarily at her eyelashes, and the freckles on her nose. Her eyes flickered up and met his. There was a split second where Ron felt as though they were frozen in that moment, and the next thing he knew, he had pulled her against him.

Ron cradled her head in one hand, the other he placed to her lower back. He held her there, as both of their lips moved urgently over the others. Hermione's hands slid from Ron's chest up to his neck. He moved them towards the bed and tripped over their feet. They both laughed, stumbling towards it and Ron placed kisses to every inch of her skin. He held Hermione close to him and he bent them down towards the bed so he could pull back the covers. Hermione kissed his cheeks and neck while Ron placed a hand on the bed and lowered them slowly to the mattress.

Hermione's hair fanned out beneath her as Ron laid her onto her back. She lifted her body to free her hair that had gotten caught beneath her. She quickly repositioned herself so she lay properly atop the bed. Her hands reached up to Ron, pulling him towards her. Ron tried to hold his body above hers but he was too tired to keep himself propped up. His arms began to shake and he gradually sunk down against her. Their legs tangled together and Hermione wrapped one of her arms around his shoulders.

He gazed down upon her sleepy face, brushing the tip of his nose against hers. Now that they were lying down, Ron felt waves of exhaustion flow over him.

He stared into Hermione's brown eyes and he could tell that although she was trying her best to battle her lack of sleep, she was being defeated. She covered her mouth as she yawned, while Ron brushed her hair back with his fingers.

"Ron," Hermione whispered. She watched him tangling his fingers in her hair.

"Yeah?" he mouthed, inches from her face.

"I'm really glad you came back." She stared up to him intently.

"You're not mad at me anymore?" he asked her with a faint smile.

"I'm furious." She laughed quietly. "But I'm glad you came back. We couldn't have done it all without you."

Ron rolled his eyes. "You can do anything."

Hermione shook her head. Her eyes stayed focused on Ron. "Not while you were gone."

Her soft words were almost inaudible. But they lingered between them as Ron lay above her, locked in her gaze. He could see that she meant what she said, and he knew that he had caused her as much pain as he had caused himself when he left. He felt her chest rising and falling heavily below him, and he listened to her inhale, then exhale. He moved his fingers through her hair and felt for her face. Her eyes closed as he grazed her skin. His tired eyes stung as he stared at her.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

She nodded. "I know you are." She assured him with a warm smile.

He leaned down and kissed her softly. She kissed him back. When he pulled away he rested his head to her chest. Hermione brushed her fingers through his hair. She kissed the top of his head, and he wrapped his arms under her body so he could hold her close.

"I'm falling asleep." Hermione whispered as she ran her fingers over his scalp.

Ron, whose eyes had fallen shut, nodded his head against her chest. Slowly, he rolled them both onto their sides without letting go of her body. He opened his eyes to look up at her, but the glare from the sunlight interrupted his vision. He could only see her silhouette, which leaned forward and kissed his forehead. He settled his head against her body and closed his eyes.