Title: Home
Creator: trademarkblue
Prompt: N/A
Description: Ron and Hermione spend a long night at Grimmauld Place, sorting out their future.
Rating: NC-17 / MA
Warnings: angst, then smut, then a fluff finisher :)
The door to the sitting room at Grimmauld Place opened suddenly, and Hermione rushed in first, dropping her bag on an armchair and shoving her hair off her shoulders as Ron followed her, collapsing onto the sofa and propping his ankles on the coffee table.
He watched as Hermione carefully removed her shoes and sat beside him, tucking her feet up, and he stretched his back dramatically as he yawned. It had been a long, busy day for both of them. Ron had begun Auror training a week ago, so his days started (way too) early and ended late, and Hermione was helping her parents reopen their dental offices. At least he still got to be with her every night, he reasoned, glancing sideways to smile sleepily at her as she faced him and rested her elbow atop the back of the sofa, dropping her cheek to her hand.
“You know what I was thinking?” she said softly, studying him.
“I never sleep at home anymore.”
“Do you want to?” he grinned, unconcerned.
“Of course not,” she laughed.
He stretched his arm across the back of the sofa so it rested against her elbow.
“I’d have asked you to move in,” he admitted quietly, “but you’re leaving in three weeks anyway.”
He’d meant to sound light, but the subject was constantly hanging over them. His grin faltered as her arm slid off the sofa, and she looked away from him, toward the unlit, empty fire.
“You would have?” she asked in a small, tentative voice.
He watched her thinking, a pastime he’d become quite familiar with. He liked to think he’d gotten fairly adept at reading her, at sensing her mood and understanding her worry. But sometimes - just then, as an unfortunate example - he wasn’t so sure.
“Could I take your offer next summer?” she asked, still looking away, so he had to answer her stoic profile.
