Backrub

Harry was pacing back and forth in front of the Room of Requirement. He needed a place where he and Ron could practise advanced duelling. They needed spell books, Restoration Draughts and a bed in case one of them got knocked out by one of the more severe hexes. These were the things Harry was concentrating on.

Since Umbridge left and Hogwarts now had a competent Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, the D.A. meetings were no longer necessary. Ron and Harry still used the room to practise duelling every now and then just to stay that little bit ahead of the class. It was especially important to Harry; after all he was expected to defeat Voldemort some day. He had to use his Invisibility Cloak to get to the Room of Requirement but Ron, as a prefect, could go almost anywhere he wanted. They always practised at night because there was less chance of being disturbed.

Harry opened the door to find everything they needed. He picked a book at random from the shelf and started browsing through it. About twenty minutes later Ron walked through the door and locked it behind him.

"Sorry I'm late. I had to deal with a first year wandering the corridor after hours." Harry tutted sarcastically.

"Kids today, we never did anything like that at their age did we?" he joked.

"Not too often anyway." Putting their school robes aside, Harry and Ron stood at opposite ends of the room, wands at the ready. "Okay, let's go!"

They were duelling for at least two hours, pausing occasionally to look up a spell in one of the many books. Trying something new, Ron cast two Stunning hexes in quick succession of each other. Harry dodged the first one by spinning on his heel but he wasn't ready for the second one. It hit him in the back, right between the shoulder blades. Harry felt himself being pushed forward by the force of the spell as everything went dark.

When Harry awoke he was lying down on the bed. His back felt stiff and sore. Looking up he saw Ron replacing the stopper on a bottle of Restoration Draught.

"Sorry about that one, Harry. I never meant to get you in the back like that." Harry gave a weak laugh.

"Well, Moody wouldn't have approved of your tactic but it was a good idea to distract me with that first hex." Harry slowly sat up, grimacing when he felt just how sore his back really was.

"Maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey?"

"You kidding? She'd kill us for practising dangerous spells in the first place. Don't worry mate, my shoulders just feel a bit stiff, that's all." Harry brushed his hair back with his hand when he suddenly felt Ron's hands on his shoulders from behind. They started rubbing them gently, massaging the top of Harry's back.

At first Harry felt as if he should jump up or shrug Ron's hands off. Such feelings melted away, as did the tension in Harry's shoulders. Harry couldn't hide the look of relaxation on his face, even if Ron couldn't see it. From behind him, Ron spoke quietly,

"If ...if this feels weird, I can stop."

"No, it feels good," said Harry in a reassuring tone. "A little lower." Ron's hands moved obediently down Harry's back, applying pressure in all the right places. No one had ever done this for Harry; it was a totally new sensation, complete relaxation. It was if Ron was smoothing out Harry's troubles with his fingers. He wanted to feel it better, right up against his skin. Without knowing it, he pulled his T-shirt over his head and discarded it on the floor.

Neither of them was sure of what was happening. Ron carried on rubbing Harry's back. He hadn't freaked out when Harry took off his shirt; in fact he had silently willed him on to do it. There was no cause to ask why they were doing this; they only knew it was easier than with girls. They both got so nervous trying to ask girls out, trying to talk to them and scale the obstacles that girls so love to set. There were no obstacles between Harry and Ron. There was nothing to stand in their way. Inhibition is the enemy of experimentation.

The two boys played it out like a game of wizard chess, making their moves in turn and each move bolder than the last. It was Ron's move after Harry removed his shirt. He moved his hands forward, under Harry's arms and caressed his bare chest. He got as far as massaging Harry's stomach when Harry finally decided on his next move. Taking Ron's soothing hands in his own, he shuffled around to face him.

Looking into Harry's eyes, Ron saw the glint of happiness that he so rarely saw in Harry nowadays. The Dark Lord, Sirius' death, Harry had so little to be happy about. Ron felt sure that what they were about to do, however unexpected, was exactly what Harry had wanted.

Wasting no more time with his move, Harry leaned forward and caressed Ron's lips with his own just as softly as Ron had massaged his skin. Ron returned the kiss, but his next move was to remove his own T-shirt. He embraced Harry, deepening their now passionate kiss. Harry had a two-part move in mind. He pushed Ron down onto the bed; he was now kneeling over him, pinning him down. He took off his belt and wriggled out of his trousers. Ron's immediate counter attack was to do the exact same. It wasn't long before all of their clothes lay scattered across the floor. The clothes were the pawns in this game, and you have to get past them before you can get at the king.

They were now under the covers with Harry still holding Ron down. He lowered himself until only his elbows propped him up. His face was inches away from Ron's.

"So ...I assume I'm supposed to ..." Harry looked down Ron's trapped torso then back up to his face. Ron nodded.

"Let's do it," he whispered. Harry decided Ron was right; they had come too far to stop now. It was awkward while Harry was finding the right place but neither of them felt the strangeness of the situation. It just felt so right. Finally Harry found it and wedged himself into Ron. Check. Ron's back arched as Harry made his entrance. As far as they were both concerned they weren't making love, it was sex, simple as that.

Harry began to thrust into Ron with extraordinary vigour. The room was still sound proof from the days of the D.A. meetings so no one could hear Ron's moans and Harry's grunts. Their sweat fused their skin, sticking them together. Ron gripped the sheets as Harry moved further in. At the moment of total release, Harry gave one final thrust accompanied by a groan. Checkmate. Ron's king was toppled; it was the closest Harry ever came to beating him at chess. Exhausted, Harry dropped, landing softly on top of Ron. They were both out of breath. Using the last of their energy, Ron resumed massaging every inch of Harry's skin that he could reach from underneath him. Harry focused on covering Ron's face with his lips. It wasn't long before fatigue set in. Harry rolled off of Ron and they fell asleep side-by-side.

When Ron awoke the next morning, he was alone. He rubbed his eyes and looked around the room. Harry's clothes were missing from the floor. Looking at the clock on the wall he saw it was almost time for breakfast. That was probably where Harry had gone. Ron gathered up his own clothes and got dressed.

Luckily there was no one in the corridor. It would have looked incredibly suspicious for a prefect to emerge from the Room of Requirement with no obvious reason for him to be there. Ron found Harry sitting at the Gryffindor table next to Hermione. He sat down next to her and helped himself to several slices of toast. Harry seemed to be concentrating intently on his cereal. He didn't even look up when Ron sat down. To Hermione, the silence between her two best friends was an alarm bell. Something was wrong.

"So where were you guys last night?" she asked casually. Harry almost choked on a spoonful of cereal. He tried desperately to regain his composure. He managed to croak a reply,

"Why do you ask?"

"I just didn't see you in the tower last night. Were you practising duelling again? Honestly you two, you're going to wear your wands out if you're not careful." This time it was Ron who nearly choked on a mouthful of toast. He banged his fist onto his chest, finally swallowing it and regained his breath. "What's wrong with you both this morning?" Harry pushed his bowl forward and got up. He was muttering something that sounded distinctly like 'None of your business.' Picking up his bag he walked out of the Great Hall without another word. Despite the enquiring looks from Hermione, Ron also said nothing.

After the last lesson of the day Ron began searching Hogwarts for Harry. They needed to talk about what happened, it had obviously affected Harry. Ron himself was unsure of what to make of it. He tried the Quidditch pitch, thinking that Harry would be distracting himself with some practise. He wasn't there. From there he went up to Gryffindor tower. Harry wasn't there either. Ron then realised what he should have done from the start. He went up to the dormitory and found the Marauder's Map. A thorough scan of it told him that Harry was in the last place that he expected.

Sure enough, Harry was sitting in the library. He was at a table in the very back of the library, a place reserved for students doing their N.E.W.T's. There were several books surrounding Harry. He seemed to be leafing through a copy of 'Juggling With Judgement'. Ron sat down opposite him.

"Looking for anything in particular?" Harry looked up briefly.

"Yeah, I'm trying to see if there's a spell that affects a persons judgement or even controls it."

"Like the Imperius curse?" offered Ron delicately. Harry nodded but seemed to be paying little attention.

"Yeah, but there may be one that isn't actually illegal. I have a strong feeling that someone put a spell on us that made us ...do what we did."

"But you've built up a resistance to the Imperius curse, haven't you?" Harry waved his hand dismissively.

"I've only had it performed on me a few times. Anyway I knew it was coming at the time. Someone may have slipped us some kind of potion." Harry put down the book he was reading and picked up another he had got from the potions section. Ron drummed his fingers nervously on the table as he mustered up the courage to ask Harry something.

"Harry ... did you ever consider the possibility that we ...did what we did because we wanted to?" Harry froze in the middle of turning a page. It was so quiet they could hear the flutter of the page as Harry let it drop.

"Look Ron, what happened last night was a mistake. Neither of us knew what we were doing. Someone was obviously playing a joke on us and I wouldn't be surprised if Malfoy had something to do with it." There was another silence as Harry resumed browsing through the book.

"Harry, even if it was a trick there's something you have to realise ...bloody hell this is hard to say ..."

"Then maybe you shouldn't say it at all," muttered Harry without looking up. Ron, however, was determined to speak his mind.

"Whatever way you look at it, I've lost my virginity to you, Harry." Harry closed the book with a bang and looked up, trying unsuccessfully to hide his indignation and shock.

"Now why did you have to say that? Oh Merlin, that's not the kind of thing you say to your best mate!"

"But it's what happened ..."

"I know but it really doesn't help the situation. You'll be telling me you love me next!"

"Well no, I don't. I'm just saying we're not going to find the reason for last night in a book." Harry seemed thoughtful for a moment.

"You know what? You're right; I know who was behind last night. The whole thing was your fault." The direct accusation caught Ron off guard.

"My fault? Now wait just a bloody minute ..."

"You started it with that damn backrub!" Harry felt the volume of his voice rising. They both began speaking in harsh whispers out of fear of attracting attention.

"I don't seem to remember you complaining at the time, you didn't say anything about stopping!"

"Well, what do you think you were doing, massaging my back like that?"

"You said your shoulders were hurting!"

"That wasn't an invitation for you to start groping me!"

"You started taking your clothes off first!"

"You were the one who whispered "Let's do it" when you could have said "Don't you think we'll regret this tomorrow Harry?"

"Do you regret it?" The calmness of Ron's tone temporarily threw Harry off his whispered rant.

"Of course I regret it, don't you?" When Ron said nothing, Harry decided he didn't like where this was going. He picked up his bag and stood up. "Look, if you're not going to admit that you started it then screw you!" He started to walk away but realising what he had said, he doubled back. "Not literally but ...oh you know what I mean!" he said with great frustration. As Harry stormed out of the library, Ron simply sat in silence.

Harry and Ron didn't speak at all the next day. Hermione could still detect the tension between them and experience told her that if she didn't do something, they'd probably never speak again.

"They may be sixteen but they're not big enough to settle these things by themselves. Bless their hearts," she thought to herself. Finding a point where Harry and Ron were in the same room was easy enough. After Quidditch practise they dropped their Quidditch robes off in the dormitory. They said nothing to each other; they didn't even make eye contact. Harry went to leave but the door wouldn't open. He tried jostling the handle and pulling harder but the door wouldn't budge. Refusing to speak to Ron, he tried calling to the other side.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

"Hello," said a familiar girl's voice from the other side of the door.

"Hermione, is that you?"

"Yes it is."

"The door's locked!"

"Yes Harry, I would know. I locked it myself." Ron now joined Harry at the door.

"But ... why?"

"Look, I don't care what problems you guys are having and quite frankly I don't care. The point is you two aren't coming out until you've sorted it out."

"We could just unlock the door ourselves you know," warned Harry.

"I'd like to see you try. It's set so it can only be unlocked from the outside. That door wouldn't open if you tried to blast it down. Basically you're not going anywhere until I say so." Despite their calls, they didn't hear anything else from Hermione. Ron sat down on his bed with his hands in his lap.

"I don't expect it can hurt to talk." With no way out of the room Harry was inclined to agree. To tell the truth he had been miserable not talking to Ron.

"The thing is Ron, I don't know why we ... did what we did and I guess that freaked me out." Ron shrugged casually.

"I don't know either to be honest. One thing I do know is I've been really down these past few days. It reminds me of that time during our forth year, remember that?"

"Yeah, the last thing we want is a repeat of that." There were a few minutes of quiet. Although they weren't saying anything, their minds were buzzing with possible solutions. They were both carefully considering what they wanted to say so that they didn't offend each other and make it worse. Finally Harry had an idea. "How about this, we were experimenting. It was an experience we shared and learned a little bit from."

"And it's not as if anyone knows what happened. We've even managed to pull the wool over Hermione's eyes and that's got to be something to be proud of." Harry chuckled. Ron was too good a friend to let the fact that he had shagged him get in the way. They both swore never to speak of their night in the Room of Requirement ever again, but it was something neither of them would forget. After a friendly handshake, which sealed their pact, Harry knocked on the door.

"Okay Hermione, you can let us out now. Hermione?" He knocked again a little louder. "Hermione?"