A/N: Disclaimer: Characters and world do not belong to me, only this particular story. No money is being made and all credit for original characters and world goes to J.K. Rowling.
First, thanks to my beta, Karahatay. Her input has been invaluable throughout this whole process so far.
Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far. I've been pleased with the feedback I've received. I'd like to add a few clarifying points quickly for everyone who's reading:
The story jumps around quite a bit and I'm quite aware. It's written like a string of memories until we hit the present full time. Chapter 1 is like a diary entry. Chapter 2 bounces between the present and memories of the past. Every time you see ~ is a break in the time stream, a jump either forward or back so keep an eye out and they should clue you to the shift.
I've also seen some comments from my beta and one or two others about the way the dialogue was written. This dialogue is written in a mix of conversational and Kings English (or as close as I can get it. ^_^).
With that let's get back to the story and find out just what Harry meant by "more of her stomach than he'd seen since that night they got pissed..."
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~
Six months after Voldemort's defeat Ron had wanted to party. So he set up a small party with his closest friends at one of their favorite haunts, as it were. Harry and Hermione were there. Even though Ginny and Harry had broken it off she was there too. But she had someone else now, Neville Longbottom. He had stayed with them through the worst of things and proved to be a great asset with his skills at healing and in herbology. He'd even developed some new weapons that nobody had considered before, a kind of wizard biological warfare, and it was very effective. Everybody owed him a great deal and the Ministry of Magic had recruited him to continue his research.
Ginny had finally seen him for the man he had become. When she and Harry called it quits she took to him quickly. In Neville she found what she'd been missing: someone that could calm her down, and she helped him out of his shell after a period of time. Getting closer to him just made it easier to continue what she took as a personal project. And it had worked fabulously.
Ron and Harry were waiting at the bar in the Three Broomsticks. It was early May and time for a summer fever party with close friends. Ron had arranged for Harry, Hermione, Neville and Ginny to meet up at the bar for a "night of drinking and revelry" in celebration of... well, nothing really. Other than it was early may, that is. Or so everyone was made to believe...
"Ho-ly-shite Ron, would you look at that!" Harry exclaimed quietly, though he really needn't have.
Hermione had just walked in the door. During the last year fighting Voldemort she'd changed. She was tired of Harry and Ron looking at her like their youngest sister. Not in a sexual way, but in a protective way. She started wearing tighter jeans and t-shirts and shunned her robes for a black leather trench-coat. They both gave her a great deal of gruff about it but admitted they liked it better than the stuffy Hermione from school.
Ron and Harry had changed some too. Harry finally decided he'd never win against his hair and just let it grow out. It suited him well, especially when he grew a goatee, though Ron didn't approve of that. Both Harry and Hermione said it was just because he couldn't grow one that he resented it. Ron, having stopped growing vertically, took a different approach. He wasn't as good at spells as the other two were so he started working out. He'd packed on a great deal of bulk after they left school. By the time Harry turned 19 they looked like a page out of a cyberpunk manga, which suited them just fine.
They'd never seen Hermione dress quite like this before, though. He was certain of it. And she hadn't attracted this much attention since the Yule Ball in fourth year. Ginny was next to her, similarly dressed in muggle clothes, and she had clearly dressed Hermione for the occasion. They wore matching leather miniskirts and black cashmere halter tops with silver bar necklaces to keep them up, and clearly no bra for either of them (which Ron blushed at). Hermione stuck with the trench-coat, apparently trying to keep some sense of modesty. Ginny opted for a leather bomber motorcycle jacket that looked weather-beaten. And they both wore stiletto boots, though Hermione's were shorter.
"Blimey, mate" was all Ron could manage at that moment.
"Yeah, blimey."
Behind Ginny came Neville, another no-longer-boy from their class. The times had changed him, too. He didn't go to the extremes the Golden Trio, as they were now known as, had gone. But he'd mellowed out, relaxed, and let himself go. The times had been hard on him. Shortly after the war really got going Bellatrix Lestrange went back and finished the job on his parents. For a little while Neville was extremely distraught. But Ginny brought him 'round right, and then some. She'd admitted to herself that, at least until the war was over, she couldn't have Harry. So she went for another, someone she could groom in stead of glide in the wake. Neville was wearing a leather bomber to match Ginny's, but also gloves and a helmet. He pulled the helmet off and revealed a close cropped head with a 10 o'clock shadow. He'd lost some weight in the depression after his parents eventual death and now his face looked chiseled, if a little hollow. He wrapped his arm around Ginny and pointed to the bar at the Leaky where Ron and Harry sat.
Hermione looked utterly flustered and made her way to the bar in front of the others.
"Hi Harry, Ron" she said, blushing furiously.
"H… Her… Hermione!" blurted Harry.
"Cor, 'Mione, you look bloody fantastic!" Hermione blushed further, brushing her hair behind her ear.
Then Harry noticed it. "You've changed your hair" he said flatly. She no longer had the dense matting of brown she usually did. Instead it was replaced by long, reddish brown ringlets that hung to the small of her back.
"Hey, yeah!" Ron said, finally cottoning on. "Looks fantastic" he said. Harry looked at him in utter astonishment. The man he knew was gone, and Ron had become different. "Here, let me take that" as he walked behind Hermione and grabbed the collar of her jacket.
Harry knew Ron had developed a thing for Hermione long ago. But, given the chaos of the last couple years, they hadn't explored anything. Nobody had, and Ron had just seized the moment.
Ron pulled her coat off and watched as it revealed more and more skin. The halter she was wearing was backless and he marveled at the sight. He caught a glimpse of lacy underwear just behind the hem of her skirt before she adjusted her clothes, making sure nothing was truly visible.
"Let's get a table" Harry said a little gruffly. Hermione eyed him and he unconsciously adjusted his tone. "Um, yeah, now that everyone's here we can start the real party!" Ginny let out a yip and rushed to the nearest empty booth she could spot. Neville followed, eying the sight of Ginny's skirted arse as she fairly skipped to the table. Harry followed after, with Hermione and Ron bringing up the rear. Ron, apparently, had taken a queue from Neville and watched Hermione's hips sway as she walked. She caught him glancing and blushed, but she swayed just a little more the rest of the way to their table.
Tom, having died near the end of the war, no longer operated the bar. He'd bequeathed the bar to Rose, owner of the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade. She'd hired more staff and popped between the two establishments every once in a while, and she was at the Cauldron tonight.
"'Allo dears, what'll it be tonight?" she beamed at the small group.
"A bottle of Old Ogden's and a round of Butterbeer!" shouted Ron, who was beaming about something, though Harry had no idea what.
"And you're ID, Ronniekins?" Normally this would have brought a bright red color to his face, but Ron was used to it now. She was an informant for the OoTP during the war and Ron had gotten quite 'friendly' with her one night while trying to get information.
"Now now, Rosie, you know I'm of age."
She smiled brightly at Ron and the rest. "Be out in a few." She turned on her heel and stopped long enough for Ron to give her a healthy pat on the arse.
"Ron!" Hermione and Ginny exclaimed. Ginny kicked him and Hermione hit him on the shoulder, hard. Neville and Harry broke out in a fit of laughter.
"Ow!" Ron said in pain, grabbing his arm and massaging it and revealing the bottom edge of a white, slightly discolored bandage. "Careful!" It was then that Hermione noticed.
"What's wrong with your arm?!" she said as she rubbed the large bandage on his bicep with a worried look on her face.
"Oh, that" he said, giving Harry a mischievous look.
Hermione looked between them and settled on Ron to get the information. "Ron, what did you do" she questioningly asked as she gave him a steely, cold look. "If I know you two…" and she trailed off, waiting for an explanation.
Ron gingerly pulled off the bandage, though this was more for dramatic effect than anything else, and revealed a small bat that was striking a ball this way and that. "I was hoping to wait for a better moment to show you, but there you are."
"A tattoo?! And I suppose he conned you in to one as well, Mr. Potter?" Hermione said (god how he hated it when she called him that), "I thought you'd have more sense!" She was looking at a similar bandage on his right arm that he'd just revealed. "Well then, off with it!"
Harry pulled his bandage off, though with less showboating. There, fluttering madly, was a snitch circling a broom.
"Ugh!" Hermione exclaimed. "Well, you're both a piece of work, aren't you."
Ginny was in hysterics and Neville seemed equally amused by the situation. Harry and Ron were giggling merrily when Rose turned up with their drinks.
"Pass that here" Hermione said, grabbing a small glass and the bottle of Fire Whiskey. "I really need one of those."
Rose looked at her questioningly, then caught sight of what she was staring at. "Oh, it's so cute!" she said, pulling Ron's exposed arm towards her. "A beater's bat and a bludger!" She was summoned to another table so wasn't able to hear the next bit of the conversation.
"Well, we had to celebrate somehow, didn't we?" Harry asked, aiming the question in Ron's direction. Ron gave him a cold glance and grabbed a glass for himself. Everyone else at the table looked between the two of them while Ron chased a shot of whiskey down with half a glass of Butterbeer.
"I've got some news, everyone" he said flatly. He had the table hanging on his silence and milked it dry.
Hermione broke the silence. "Well, tell us" she said impatiently.
"Ahem" he said, dramatically clearing his throat, earning a scoff from Hermione. "I've been signed to the Cannons."
It took a second to sink in. Ginny squealed and Neville cheered. When Hermione finally remembered a conversation about the posters in his room her face dropped considerably.
"The Chudley Cannons? The Quidditch team?" she questioned.
"Yes, you daffy bird, the Chudley Cannons! I'm a professional beater now!"
Hermione's face slowly turned from questioning to astonishment to elation in the matter of a second. "Ron, I'm so happy for you!" she screamed as she rose from her seat to give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. At least, that's what she'd meant to do. Ron had turned his face to her at just the right moment and caught her lips with his. They both pulled away quickly, bright red and clearly embarrassed. Ginny and Neville both giggled in astonishment. Harry had a bewildered smile on his face.
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" Hermione quietly chided herself, her eyes wide with disbelief at what had just happened. Ron, on the other hand, had quickly replaced his embarrassment with another expression: glee. He grabbed Hermione's shoulders, turned her to face him, and kissed her hard. It took her only a moment to realize what was happening. She closed her eyes and kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck.
Harry broke the silence a minute later by proposing a toast. "To new opportunities and new love!"
Neville grabbed his glass and raised it, saying "To Quidditch!"
Ginny raised her own glass. "To Ron and Hermione! And it's about damned time!" The last comment elicited a scoff and a smile from Hermione.
"To friends and happiness!" Ron said aloud, raising his glass.
They made the most of the night, rousing all kinds of mischief tales from each other. Many toasts were had but none so poignant as those to the fallen. All five of them, long time friends, got themselves thoroughly pissed and left the bar late in to the night. Ginny wrapped in Neville's arms, Hermione in Ron's, and Harry alone.
~
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