Chapter 4
Harry woke up feeling wonderful. He couldn't remember the last time he had slept so good. No nightmares. He didn't even have one of his bizarre dreams, but just slept into nothingness. After a long stretch he fluttered his eyes open and noticed that Hermione was still fast asleep next to him.
She was still on her stomach, but Harry realized that sometime during his sleep he must have rolled over on his as well. He was now lying halfway on top of her, with one of his legs tangled with hers and his arm wrapped around her. He should feel embarrassed. He should have blushed like a schoolboy and roll off of her. But he didn't and he didn't feel embarrassed. After all, Hermione was probably the reason he slept so good.
Ginny and him never…cuddled. It was more just snogging and however wrong it was for Ginny to deceive him like that, just snogging was what he needed last year. On the other hand, if Ginny didn't give him the potion, he had a feeling he'd find someone else to snog with.
Then all of the sudden a quick image of Harry backing Hermione up against a deserted corridor and kissing her senseless.
Woah. Harry warily lifted his hand that was unconsciously stroking her hair. Don't go there, Potter. Bad idea. He then shifted his body away from hers slightly so he was no longer on top of her, then shook her shoulder gently. "Hermione."
"Hmm." Her eyes still stayed closed so he shook her again and this time her eyes fluttered open. "Harry?"
"Hey," he said with a smile. "Looks like we both had a long nap. We should head inside."
Hermione nodded then slowly pushed herself up to a sitting position and to Harry's delight, arched her back into a deep stretch. Did she realize the impact she made when she did that? Probably not. "Sleep good?" Harry asked.
She nodded and smiled sleepily. "I did. How bout you?"
"I can't remember a time I slept so good," he said as a yawn escaped him.
"I woke up for a second one time," she said with a smirk. "You were practically on top of me."
Harry flushed. "Er…yeah, sorry about that. I must have shifted while I was asleep."
"That's all right. I didn't mind at all. It was…"
"What?" he asked as she trailed off looking embarrassed.
She shrugged. "It was kind of nice. I've never…er…slept with…wrong choice of word. What I mean is, that I've never…"
"Cuddled with someone?" Harry finished for her and when she blushed and gave him a small nod, he smiled. "Me either."
Hermione's jaw dropped and stared at him while he jumped to his feet. "You haven't?" she asked as she let him help her to her feet.
"Nope," he said trying to keep it casual as he gathered up the blanket. "Ginny and I never snuggled or anything like that. We just mainly snogged."
"Oh."
Harry then held out his hand. "Ready to go in?"
"No," she said as she slipped her hand in his. "But I know we have to anyway."
"We've been out for hours," Harry said as he looked up at the sun. "We only have a few more hours till the sun goes down."
"I'm surprised someone hasn't come and checked on us," Hermione said as they took their time walking to the Burrow.
"For all we know, they have," Harry said as he shifted their joined hands until their fingers linked. "We've been out."
Hermione stopped in her tracks. "I didn't think about that. What if…"
"Ron saw us?" He shrugged and started walking again. "Then I'm sure he won't be happy, but we didn't do anything wrong."
Hermione nervously bit her bottom lip. "No, I know, but you know Ron."
"Yeah," he sighed as they walked through the gardens. "I know Ron."
"There you two are!" Molly Weasley said with a smile as she was puttering around the kitchen. Ginny was there setting the table for the rehearsal dinner, but she kept her eyes glued to her task and avoided eye contact. "I was wondering when you two would wake up."
Relieved, both of them let out a breath. "So you saw us?" Harry asked.
"Ginny, no not like that…the knife goes on the other side of the plate." Mrs. Weasley then turned her attention back to them. "No, Ron did actually. He came in here in a bad mood, actually."
Harry and Hermione glanced uneasily at each other, both saying what they couldn't say out loud. Uh-oh.
"Ginny, why are you stopping, you still need to put out the napkins!"
Harry turned to Ginny to see that she had stopped right in the middle of the task and stared. It didn't take him long to realize she was staring at their joint hands with a look of sadness in her eyes. He almost felt sorry for her. Almost. "Let's go upstairs, Hermione," Harry murmured and then silently led her out of the kitchen.
"I almost feel sorry for her," Hermione whispered as they made their way up the stairs.
"I was thinking the same thing. I better go talk to, Ron and get ready for the dinner. You feeling okay?"
"I'm fine," she assured him with a smile. "I'll see you in a little while."
"Wish me luck," he said dryly and then took a deep breath before walking into the room. He found Ron lying on the bed on his back, but when he saw Harry he jumped up. "Hey, Ron."
"Oh, hey Harry," he said in a strange high pitched voice as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I was just…lying down before the dinner."
Okay, this was not how he thought Ron would react. "Oh, well. Um, do you want me to leave?"
"Oh, no I'm going to take a shower now I think," he said with a smile that seemed forced. "Unless, you'd like to take one first."
"No, you go ahead," he said not sure on what to do. He expected Ron to be mad, but he didn't expect this. It was like Ron didn't want him to know he saw them. Well, there was only one way to find out. "Er, your mum said you saw Hermione and I…sleeping."
Ron turned slightly red but kept his composure. "Oh, yeah…you guys were out, I uh…didn't feel like waking you up."
"I see. Well, thanks, but…er, listen, Ron. I don't know what you saw but we just fell asleep and…"
"I know, don't worry," he said with a shrug and waved it off. "I figured as much."
The words he said weren't too convincing, but if it was what Ron wanted he'd play along. "Okay. Well. I'll let you get to your shower. Don't hog all the hot water."
"Yeah, okay," he said giving him a small smile before walking out.
Harry shook his head in amazement, completely puzzled on his behavior. He thought he'd have to come in there and convince an angry and accusing Ron that nothing happened and they just fell asleep. Instead, he acted like he was okay with it, although he did a horrible job of it, and he had a feeling that if Harry hadn't brought it up he would have pretended he never saw them.
He decided to go to Hermione's room and tell her what happened, but when he gave a little tap and stuck his head in she wasn't there. "Hermione?"
"Oh, Harry…in here," her voice called from the bathroom.
Harry closed the bedroom door behind him, gave Crookshanks a quick pat on the head, walked through the bathroom door and froze. "Hermione!" he exclaimed as he covered his eyes with his hands. "Are you mad?!"
"Harry," she laughed amused. "What's the big deal? I'm covered."
"Yeah, in bubbles," he pointed out with his eyes still covered but he saw enough to see the image stuck in his brain. Hermione was in the tub soaking herself in bubbles with her hair all piled up on her head, exposing her long slender neck. Merlin, the sight was so…what was the word? Sexy. Yep, that's the word. Sexy. "Hermione, maybe I should come back."
"Oh Harry, honestly, you can uncover your eyes."
"I don't think that's such a good idea," he mumbled. "I just came to tell you that Ron was okay with…er…what he saw."
"He was? Why was he…Harry, I don't like talking to you while your standing their covering your eyes."
He sighed. "Fine." He pulled his hands away but kept his eyes closed. "How's this?"
"Harry," she laughed. "Come on."
Harry grumbled as he shoved his hands in his pockets but opened his eyes. Dammit. Still sexy. "You happy?"
"Yes, now sit on the toilet and tell me what happened."
Harry chuckled as he did what she said. "All right, you win. Like I said, he acted fine with it, but I could tell he was pretending. It bugged him, but he didn't want me to know it bugged him. That makes sense?"
"Makes perfect sense," she said frowning. "Well, all we can do is give him what he wants."
"Yeah, that's what I thought."
"It's silly," she said casually as she picked up a bar of soap and started to rub it on her arms. Was she purposely trying to kill him? "I mean all we did is fall asleep, it's not like we…oops."
The soap had slipped out of her fingers and fell over the rim of the tub and slid close to his feet. His heart lodged in his throat when she gave him a tentative look. "Do you mind?"
Harry sighed as he picked up the slippery soap that smelled incredibly good and then walked over to Hermione. "Next thing I know, you'll be asking me to wash your back," he teased as he handed her the soap.
Hermione rolled her eyes as he took the soap. "I would if I didn't know you got all flustered over a woman in a bubble bath."
"I am not flustered," he countered back. "That's ridiculous."
"Oh please," she laughed as she shook her head. "You better go before you embarrass yourself."
Harry watched her as she started to rub the soap again, this time peaking a leg out to wash her calve. Of course she would have sexy calves, too. Bloody hell, what was going on? He can't be attracted to Hermione…could he? "Hermione?"
"Yes?"
He suddenly swooped down on her, placing his hands on either side of the tub, causing her to shriek and sink lower into the bubbles. Harry snickered. "Looks like I'm not the only one who gets flustered." He then gave her a friendly kiss on her cheek. "See you at dinner."
Harry didn't just walk out of the bathroom. He strutted.