Until Last Tuesday

Until last Tuesday"

by nikalee

Ron was in a bit of a muddle. He knew he should be thinking of other things, he tried desperately to be thinking of other things, but always the same thoughts, came unbidden, back to him, no matter how many cold showers he looked or pictures of unattractive women he looked at.

He had seen Hermione naked! Even a day after the momentous event, Ron was still reeling from the shock. Sure, she'd been his..well, they didn't actually call each other that, but...everybody knew they were...but it didn't mean...they'd never done anything like that! And even though they'd had...moments, they had long ago made the decision to wait. And while Ron sometimes lapsed into thoughts that he would never want his mother to know, he genuinely loved Hermione and wanted the best for her.

Until last Tuesday. Ron's ears turned red even thinking of it, while a different traitorous part of him stirred in a way he tried to ignore. He still couldn't believe she hadn't locked the bathroom door. She was always so careful!

He'd been walking along, thinking of nothing but brushing his teeth (that vomit flavored bean did it every time) and opened the bathroom door, not even looking up, his thoughts completely elsewhere, when a very strange sound had alerted him and he'd looked up.

The sound, Ron mused, had sounded strange to him because he had never heard it before, at least not in a place that he was always alone, that he had considered very private.

A sharp intake of breath, much higher pitched than his own,and feminine sounding. His head had snapped up in surprise and what he had saw then had been indelibly burned in his brain.

Hermione was naked! Her body had been dripping! And her neck and...lower had been a soft rosy color that was most seriously the MOST amazing color he'd ever seen in his life.

He hadn't known she'd looked like that! Sure, he'd seen a few pictures of naked women before (courtesy of Fred and George), but those had been pictures and there she was, right in front of him, close enough that he could see the beads of moisture on her skin, he could smell the clean scent of her soap, and all these overwhelming thoughts had been churning around in his head when his body began to react.

Ron groaned and buried his head in his pillow. Well, really, it was a compliment, wasn't it? As much as he had tried to convince himself of that, he could never forget the shocked look Hermione's face had worn when she had noticed...the parts of him that had reacted.

Well...really! He was a MAN, wasn't he? Wasn't it natural that something of the sort would happen when he saw something like that? She needn't have looked so...so... well Ron didn't have a word exactly to describe how Hermione had looked, but it wasn't encouraging. To him, anyway.

Now, here it was, nearly eleven in the morning, and Ron hadn't set a foot out of bed, even thought his stomach had passed the grumbling point and started screaming bloody murder. If he got out of bed he would have to see HER! What would they say...how would they act? Ron felt nothing would ever be the same again.

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Hermione sat in front of her mirror that Wednesday morning. Depite repeated assurances from the mirror ("you look lovely, dear, really") and despite the fact that she had spent the last hour in front of the mirror, doing something that only really be called primping, Hermione could not remember the last time she had felt so unsure of herself.

Because, really, wasn't it her that always knew the answers? Wasn't there always, at any given time some sort of book she could read that would solve any question she might have? But, try as she might (and she had) there had been nothing in "Hogwart's, A History" that gave any clue on what to do when your...(boyfriend, her mind said, but refused to fully wrap around the somewhat uncomfortable idea)...friend named Ron saw you naked.

And now she didn't know what to do. She could not forget how Ron had looked when he saw her body. It was as if he had never seen her before. And she supposed he hadn't, really, they had never gone any farther than...well, they had never gone that far.

What she also couldn't forget was the wickedly guilty part of her mind that had been gratified of his reaction, it had PLEASED her, that part of her mind that she never thought about had been smug, even, thinking, "I did that. I'M capable of causing that." And she kept thinking it, even as she had lay in bed that night, and the thought had caused her body to flush in a strange, yet pleasant way. In fact, the flushing had gotten to the point of aching, and she didn't know what to do with herself, or how to relieve it. The same part of her mind that had been pleased suggested she crawl into Ron's bed and see if he could help her with her frustration, at which point she had sat bolt upright in bed and said aloud, "Stop it!"

She must have said it rather loud, for Ginny stirred in the next bed, and said sleepily "Whassa' matter, Her..." and then the sentence trailed off into nothing as Ginny had apparently fallen back asleep. Hermione had sighed in relief.

Finally, after much tossing and turning, she had fallen into an uneasy sleep, in which she had a dream that she and Ron were studying. Which was a typical dream, really, but for some reason Ron was only wearing boxers. She couldn't fully remember the dream in the morning, but it seemed to Hermione that she hadn't got much studying done.

Now...morning. Eleven in the morning, to be exact. Hermione had begged off breakfast, claiming her head ached. Ginny had looked at her somewhat suspiciously but had left Hermione there, saying, "I'll save you some toast."

Even in her confused state, Hermione smiled. Ginny was an awfully good friend.

But now it was almost lunchtime and Hermione knew she couldn't very well stay in bed all day.

There was studying to be done, after all. And she had faced countless dangers in her almost seven years at Hogwarts, she couldn't let a silly thing like seeing Ron cow her.

Hermione stood determinedly and walked to the bedroom door, which she opened. Her heart raced despite her efforts to stop it, but she took a deep breath and strode into the hallway, thinking of what she would say when she saw him. She would act like nothing had happened, that's what she would do. She could never let him think he had made her uncomfortable. Hermione was so intent on her thoughts that she never noticed the other figure in the hallway who was apparently also deeply engrossed in thoughts, and SMACK! their bodies collided and Hermione stumbled and nearly fell. An arm caught her before she did, and only then did she look up.

She had run smack into Ron.

To be continued