Us and Them

Us and Them

"Us, and them

And after all we're only ordinary men

Me, and you

God only knows it's not what we would choose to do"

"Don't you know what time it is?"

Soft lips brushed his bare shoulder. Ron tugged at the sheets, carelessly pushing his companion aside. The other boy laughed gently in the mid-morning light and fondly ruffled Ron's gingery hair.

"What's the matter, Ron? Need to catch up on your beauty sleep?" he chuckled as Ron reached out with a blind hand, trying to smack him for that comment. "Doesn't matter, mate. You'll never fix that ugly mug of yours. It's beyond saving, I'm afraid."

Ron cracked an eyelid open to find Harry's smiling face turned toward the open window. The sun, a flashing medallion of white-gold in the summer sky, shone down upon him and bathed him in the light of the immortals. Ron grinned sleepily and rubbed his eyes. When Harry turned around, he was struck by the thought that the bespectacled boy was never lovelier than when he smiled.

"Finally, you great slug. I was just thinking I'd have to send that brute of a great-horned owl you got for Christmas off for Fred and George!"

Ron pushed the covers back and crept up to sit on the end of the bed. He put his arms around Harry's waist and buried his face in the other boy's lean stomach. "Good morning to you, too," he mumbled, closing his eyes again and reveling in Harry's inner warmth. Harry laughed aloud, his hands resting lightly on Ron's back. The naked skin there was fair and glowing beneath his fingertips, strewn with pale freckles, and taut over the shifting muscles as Ron tightened his arms around Harry's hips. Harry smiled and kissed the crown of Ron's head making Ron shiver.

"I'm cold, Harry," the redhead said then, turning his face upward, and opening his eyes. Harry gazed down at him beatifically, as though sharing some private joke with him purely through the emotion shining in his own emerald eyes. Ron let his hands climb to Harry's shoulders as he half-stood up and kissed the corners of Harry's silently smiling mouth. "Come back to bed and warm me up," he murmured, smoothing his thumbs across the other boy's lips and kissing him again.

"Wish I could, Ron," Harry said, highly charmed by this uncharacteristic display of affection. Ron wouldn't let go, even as Harry tried to push him away. "But you know I have to go home today. We all do."

"I don't know anything anymore," Ron mumbled in reply, finally allowing himself to be pried off and pushed backwards onto the bed. "You're my whole existence, past, present, and future." He pulled a pillow over his head.

Harry pulled it off again. "I need you, Ron; you know that." There was no question involved, but Ron blinked owlishly up at Harry's face and nodded anyway. Harry nodded back, even though he hadn't doubted the reassurance, and Ron smiled softly to himself.

"Come to bed, Harry," he urged. "The train will wait another hour or two." He tugged at Harry's hands insistently. Harry rolled his eyes and sat down beside him.

"You're lucky that I can't find it in myself to refuse you," he teased, letting Ron pull his shirt off over his head. Ron murmured in agreement, too busy trying to kiss Harry until the other boy could no longer see straight to say much else. Harry responded in kind, moaning at bit as Ron's tongue gently scraped the soft skin directly below his navel. "If you're going to do that," the raven-haired boy said breathlessly, eyes fluttering open and shut, "why don't you...?" But he was forced to let the question hang as Ron was already forcing his shoulders down into the pillows, his hands traveling downward to loosen Harry's trousers. Harry's own hands moved to help him as his back arched up and he caught Ron's mouth with his own. The two boys fumbled for a moment, trying to both remove Harry's clothing and hold onto the kiss at the same time. The kiss won out in the end, and Ron's hands rose to tangle themselves in Harry's tousled hair, even as Harry's fingers pressed into his shoulders, dragging him forward.

Quite suddenly, the two became aware of a scuffling noise outside in the hall. Their eyes locked for a brief and timeless moment, and then there was a knock on the door. Ron cursed and rolled over on the bed as Harry shot him a fervent look telling him to be quiet as he stood and re-buckled his belt. Ron sighed and threw Harry his shirt, bending over the side of the bed to look for his own.

Harry tugged the shirt on and started for the door. "Who is it?" he called, grabbing his wand off the nightstand and stowing it up his sleeve. Ron finally found his clothes and struggled into them as fast as he could. Harry watched him, a faint grin ghosting his lips in amusement. Ron gave him a dirty look while he hopped in place trying to get both legs into his trousers without falling over.

"It's...um..." The person's reply wavered and trailed off as the scuffle came to a halt and a pair of voices whispered feverishly between themselves, almost inaudible to Harry and Ron. The two Gryffindors glanced at each other and shrugged their shoulders. Harry pulled the door open and stepped aside to see who their visitors were.

Ginny stared at the open door, her mouth agape as she puzzled over its abrupt movement. Beside her stood Hermione with what looked distressingly like a glass of Draco Malfoy's hidden stash of Muggle-made red wine in her hand and a strand of Pansy Parkinson's precious pearls around her neck. The obviously drunk girls looked first at Harry and then at Ron, and Hermione abruptly gave way to helpless giggles.

Ron frowned as his little sister patted the door and staggered into the room. Bumping into the nightstand on her way toward him, she turned to give the piece of furniture a miffed look before stretching out her arms to her brother and offering him a wide grin.

"My baby," she cried, stumbling toward him. He sidestepped her embrace with an incredulous look on his face and watched as she fell onto the bed, shuddering and unable to help her laughter.

"What in the name of bloody hell is going on?" he murmured to Harry, sidling over to his friend's side. Harry shook his head, eyes wide as Hermione went to Ginny and tried to help her up. The two girls only succeeding in falling down again, the wine sloshing all over the floor as Hermione let the glass slip from her fingers in laughing with Ginny.

"You... two... thought you could... hide..." Hermione gasped through her tears of mirth. Ginny clutched her stomach she was laughing so hard. Ron darted Harry a fervent look, but he did not respond.

"What do you mean, Herm?" the dark-haired boy replied calmly, bending down to pick up the fallen glass as it rolled toward his feet.

"Stupid boys!" Ginny said impatiently, trying to catch her breath. "We know all about what you've been doing in here; we heard you going at it all night long, you know. Honestly." She was regaining something of her sober self, her hands coming to rest imperiously on her hips for a moment. "Did you think you could keep it a secret?" She watched their faces grow with horror for a minute, and then couldn't help herself and dissolved into giggles again.

"But I thought you sound-proofed the room, Harry?" Ron whispered urgently, flashing him a look beneath his eyelashes. Harry nodded almost imperceptibly in response, whispering back, "I thought I did, too."

Hermione's eyes shone with hilarity. She straightened up and shook her head, smiling. "Merlin, you two look like you've seen the ghost of Salazar Slytherin! We were just joking! We only had one glass of wine each, anyway."

"Sure," Ginny agreed, eyes flashing wickedly as she let her laughter subside and quickly recovered from her 'drunken' state. "But maybe we hit closer to home than we expected to, Hermione. Look at them. They're practically trembling with fright!" The girls both looked at them matter-of-factly.

"Whoa, now. Don't get any funny ideas," Ron said hurriedly, wishing he didn't feel like he'd just come within an inch of literally jumping out of his skin. "Harry and I, we were just finishing our packing. Right, Harry?" To his credit, for once Harry didn't hesitate to lie. He nodded eagerly and pointed to his open trunk.

"See? I was just rearranging my books when you girls came in."

Hermione and Ginny peered into his trunk, nodding slowly. "Well, whatever you say," Ginny said, sliding from the bed and going to the door. "We only came up here to tell you that it's almost time to go."

"Yes," Hermione declared, taking her glass from Harry. "And if you know what's good for you, you'll probably want to avoid Malfoy and Parkinson for awhile. They seem to think it was you two who broke into their rooms, although I don't know why that would be." Giggling again, the two girls fled the room.

Ron let out a breath of relief, sinking back onto the bed. "I thought we were done for," he groaned. "We should never have made that stupid bet with them."

"You mean the one where we promised to hand over all our worldly possessions to them if we got caught by the Slytherins first?" Harry chuckled softly, retuning to Ron's side after he had closed the door and locked it. "You're right. We're going to lose that bet for sure." He lay down next to Ron, kissing the hollow of his throat and twining his fingers with the other boy's.

Ron pouted for a moment. "Only because we don't put our energies into figuring out how to win," he groused, turning his head aside as Harry attempted to kiss his mouth.

Settling for kissing Ron's ear instead, Harry laughed and pulled away, sitting on the edge of the thoroughly mussed bed. "True enough," he replied. "But it's not like we have very many worldly possessions to lose now, have we?"

Ron sat up behind him. "I guess you're right," he said slowly. He rested his chin on Harry's shoulder and they both looked out the window, watching a few happy first years cavort in the sunshine down by the lake before they had to leave. Ron's thoughts strayed to his and Harry's first encounter like this, back in the winter when the day looked more like night and the sun was as silver as the moon. "But that also means that we probably don't need as much time to pack so few possessions."

Harry turned and met his kiss with a grin. "And parting is such sweet sorrow, after all," he agreed.