Harry arrived at The Burrow on the evening following his seventeenth birthday. He had made it clear to the Dursley’s that this time he wouldn’t be coming back again. Predictably, they hadn’t cared. They just gave a pathetic goodbye as he stepped out the door. In all the years he had lived with them, perhaps naively, he hoped that he might have meant more to them, but what did it matter? They were no longer a part of his life.
“Who’s there?” Arthur Weasley’s voice protruded from behind the door.
“Harry,” Harry said, trying not to laugh.
“Prove it!” Mr Weasley said accusingly.
“Erm…Mr Weasley, we haven’t decided what my password is going to be yet.”
“Oh right, of course. I suppose I better give you the benefit of the doubt for now then. Come on in.” Harry stepped through the door and took in the woody smell he associated with the Weasley household.
“Just head up to Ron’s room, he should still be awake”
Harry nodded and began up the staircase. He hadn’t actually planned to visit The Burrow this summer, but Ron had insisted that he had to be there for Bill and Fleur’s wedding. Hermione had also been pretty keen on the idea of going to the wedding. Then again, Harry thought all girls like weddings, another fact that made them quite a curious species. To be fair, he was kind of looking forward to going to going to a wedding not containing any of his relatives. Harry had only ever been allowed to a wedding once before and that was only because Uncle Vernon’s brother, Ernest, had grown quite fond of him. In turn, Harry was pretty fond of him. Ernest looked a lot like his older brother, apart from the fact that he was a professional rugby player and therefore, physically, much fitter then Vernon. However, after that wedding, Harry had been forbidden to contact “that prat”, as Vernon had put it. It was probably something to do with the fact that Ernest found it highly amusing that the funny smelling old women, Aunt Marge had forced Harry to dance with, had grown quite a thick beard by the end of the song. Uncle Vernon did not find it the least bit funny. But that was all in the past now. He never had to see any of them again, if he didn’t want to.
“Hi, Harry.” His stomach gave a sudden jolt. There, in front of him on the stairs was Ginny. She seemed just as she always was.
“How’ve you been?” Harry asked, pulling her into a loose hug. They used to hug before they got together; there was no reason why they shouldn’t be able to now.
“I’m ok I guess. It’s hard to really know sometimes. Does that sound weird to you?” They released each other from the hug.
“No,” said Harry simply, “that’s exactly how I’m feeling too.” She stared at him for a moment.
“I’ve decided,” Ginny said quietly, “I’m not going back to Hogwarts. There’s nothing left for me there anymore and nobody tells you anything. At least if I’m here I might hear something about what’s happening.”
“I didn’t think you would go back.” Again, they found themselves staring at each other.
“I'd better go up to Ron’s room now,” Harry said with a slight air of awkwardness. He gave her shoulder a slight squeeze as he stepped past her. It was nice, he thought, that they could still talk normally with each other. Whatever happened, Harry still wanted her in his life. It hurt that he couldn’t be with her, but he knew that the pain would be far worse if anything happened to her because of him. It was definitely better this way, for all their sakes.
He climbed the last couple of stairs to Ron’s attic room and went to push open the door, but something stopped him.
“I just wish that things were different.” Ron sounded oddly frustrated.
“I understand what you’re saying, but we can still be there for Harry, even if we-” Hermione didn’t get time to finish before Ron interrupted.
“Can we though? Do you really think he will let us? God, I should never have brought this up. It’s more trouble than it’s worth.”
“You don’t really mean that, do you?” Hermione asked quietly. Harry stood listening, trying to make sense of what they were saying. Both Ron and Hermione had fallen quiet. Then, almost silently, Ron whispered,
“No, of course I didn‘t.”
“So what are we going to do then?”
“We could just not tell him.”
Hermione snorted. “We can’t do that to him. It’d be too unfair. Anyway, if we’re going to do this, we have to do it properly. No sneaking around behind his back”
“So-so you want to?” Ron sounded nervous.
“Of course I do.” For the second time, the room fell silent but it was a different sort of silence. Harry sneaked a glance around the door and found, slightly to his own surprise, the sight before him did not shock him. Ron and Hermione were sitting on the floor at the end of Ron’s bed, arms around each other, sharing a kiss. Feeling invading, Harry crept back down the stairs and again found himself bumping into Ginny as she emerged from a door.
“What are you doing?” She giggled.
“I’m pretending I only just got here,” he whispered. She gave him a questioning look, so he began a quick and hushed explanation.
“Took them long enough,” she laughed. Grabbing his wrist, she led him up closer to Ron’s room.
“Oh hi, Harry,” she said loudly, giving him a wink. There was a sudden clatter from the room upstairs. Harry caught on quickly.
“Hi, Ginny,” he said equally as loudly.
“I’m just heading off to bed,” Ginny said and added quietly, “You can probably go up there now. Night, Harry.”
“Night, Gin,” He said, trying not to laugh. He marvelled at her quick thinking as he retraced his steps to Ron’s room. That was probably one of the reasons Harry liked her so- no, he couldn’t afford to think like that anymore. Not until the war was over, if he was still alive, then they could be together. Until then, Harry had to learn a little restraint. Anyway, saving the world from Voldemort was definitely more important than his love life. Wasn’t it?
As Harry walked into Ron’s room, it took a stupendous effort to keep a straight face. Ron was now sitting on his bed, fiddling with a hole in his duvet cover and Hermione was sitting in a chair by the window pretending to be surprised.
“Oh hi, Harry. I didn’t know you were here yet,” she said, standing up to give him a hug.
“Hey, mate,” Ron said with an odd tone to his voice, but added genuinely, “How are you, mate?” Hermione took a step back so she could look at him more clearly.
“I’m ok,” Harry said succinctly, even though he was a great many more things than ok. He couldn’t’t find words suitable to say how he really was feeling. Hermione seemed to sense this.
“I understand what you mean,” she said with a vague smile. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could see Ron making some very odd gestures.
“Listen, Harry,” Hermione said, also looking at Ron. “The three of us have something we need to talk about”
“Ok,” Harry said. He and Hermione sat with Ron on his bed. There was an awkward silence in which Ron and Hermione stuttered uselessly. Harry said nothing; instead, he sat and watched them getting more and more nervous.
“The thing is, Harry,” Ron said, finally managing to string a half decent sentence together.
“We’ve got something to tell you that potentially - well it might - it could possibly effect our journey together.”
“This sounds important.”
“It is,” Hermione said, nodding furiously.
“It’s just that we need to know how you feel before we get in too deep. Basically, we’re asking your permission.” Ron accidentally ripped the hole in his duvet cover so it was much bigger. He pulled out his wand and muttered a spell, causing the hole to mend itself.
“What you really need to understand is that Ron and I, we’re still going to be there for you no matter what,” Hermione said quietly. Harry was passed his stage of amusement. Watching his best friends acting like this, well it proved that there were strong emotions between them. Of course, Harry had known that they liked each other as more than friends, few people didn’t, but this was clearly more than just like and Harry found he was pleased for them. After all, Ron had not objected when Harry and Ginny got together and they didn’t’t ask permission. It really was time for Harry to return the favour. Still, he might as well let them squirm for just a little longer.
“What on earth are you talking about?” he asked in mock confusion.
“How would you feel about me and Hermione being…together? You know, like a couple?” Hermione was biting her lip out of nerves, closely surveying Harry. Ron, on the other hand, had become oddly interested in his sock.
“I think,” Harry said slowly, “that I might just be ok with that.” He smiled as their faces lit up in disbelief. “On two conditions,” Harry added as they started laughing happily. “No being disgustingly soppy in front of me.”
“Sounds fair,” Ron said, still laughing. Hermione nodded through a daft grin.
“Secondly,” Harry said, noticing the sudden seriousness in his tone. Ron and Hermione listened carefully. “I know that you don’t want to think about this right now, but if you two do break up whilst we’re still fighting this war, you have to stay friends because I need you to be able to get along if this is going to work. If you don’t, I’m going on alone.”
Hermione slipped her hand into Ron’s. “I promise that we won’t let you down,” she whispered.
“I second that,” Ron said.
“Oh, and one more thing, Hermione,” Harry said, smiling. "No calling him Won-Won.”
What Is Right And What Is Easy by fizzingwizzbee
Story Notes:
I was writing this before the release of Deathly Hallows. As such i've decided to close this story as it seems silly to pursue it. i am however working on a new story that runs right alongside the canon of DH. I'm hoping it'll be worth a read.