Author's Note – Hiya! I've re-posted this story, mostly cos I re-read it the other day and another part of the 'scene' popped into my head, and partly cos I've had an idea to extend it beyond the one-shot it was originally supposed to be. I don't think it's going to be a long one though. In fact, I think it'll only be one or two more chapters! I've not changed anything in this chapter, just added a bit of Harry/Ginny at the end cos they're my favourite. Enjoy! ~ VS

Chapter 1

Oct 1999

Ron smiled inwardly to himself. He liked evenings like this one. Hermione had come over to the flat he shared with Harry for dinner and was now sat curled upon the couch reading a heavy tome from Harry's vast collection. Harry sat on the floor next to her, giving the illusion that he was playing chess with Ron, sat opposite him, the chess board placed between them on the coffee table. Quiet nights like this were hard to find. Harry helping the Aurors, Hermione working at the Ministry and himself working with George left neither one of them much time to relax.

As Harry pondered his next move, the front door behind the sofa opened softly. Confused by the unexpected guest, Ron looked up from the chess board to watch as his little sister pulled off her rain and sleet drenched cloak, placing it on a hook by the door, kicked off her shoes and confidently walked down the hall towards the two bedrooms. Ron was even more confused when he realised that Ginny, Harry and Hermione had not acknowledged that anyone else occupied the room.

"Ron mate, your move."

Called back to reality and still rather dazed, Ron carried on the match to the distant sounds of his sister showering. An annoyingly mocking voice in his head teased him, 'maybe Harry was finally going to win'. A more grown up voice told the childish one it was probably right.

Ron was, needless to say, distracted by the sounds emanating from the bathroom as they played, but twenty minutes later, when the shower was shut off, he became even more distracted when Ginny didn't reappear.

It was another forty minutes before the chess match finished. Harry stood, victorious, leaving a dazed and puzzled Ron to rehash his losing moves. Saying goodnight, he retired to his bedroom, the door clicking into place loudly in the silent flat. Unable to hold in his question any longer, Ron cleared his throat.

"'Mione?"

"Hmmm?" though Ron was looking at her, she didn't lift her gaze from the book; rather she kept on reading.

"Did you see Ginny?"

"Yes." The tone in her voice would have been abrupt, even rude, had they been anywhere else. Ron considered the implications of this information.

"'Mione, does she -"

"Two, maybe three nights a week." Again, her eyes never left her page. Not completely at peace with what his girlfriend was telling him, Ron carried on as Hermione turned her page and carried on reading as if he wasn't there.

"So they're…"

"No." this time frustrated by the interrupting and shortness of her answers, Ron retaliated.

"How could you possibly know that?" He's stood, to emphasise his point, his voice radiating his fury despite the hushed tones of their conversation. Hermione, in response, calmly replaced her bookmark and closed the book gently. Balancing it on the end table beside the sofa, she shifted slightly but her only retort was a reproachful glare - probably more for disturbing her reading than snapping at her as he had.

"Keep your voice down! Besides, Ginny told me." Ron, calmed somewhat by her stare looked sheepish but wasn't fully convinced.

"And you're sure?" Hermione, seeing Ron's carefully hidden insecurity, stood and began to tidy up, packing away the chess set she hadn't used.

"Yes. Absolutely. Ginny would have told me if they were. You can go back there and check on them if you like, but I promise you, they won't appreciate it." Seriously considering the option she'd given him, it took a while for the rest of what she'd said to sink in properly.

"Wait, you two talk about that sort of, you know, stuff?"

"Yes. Why? Does it bother you?" Hermione, for once, seemed uncertain where the conversation was heading. It did, however, irritate her enormously that Ron ignored the question.

"So you and she talk… about everything? You know, she tells you about her and Harry and you," he paused for unintentional dramatic effect as he swallowed heavily, "tell her about us?"

"Yes." The emphatic answer stunned him into silence as he stared into space. Giving up, Hermione drew her wand. The room righted itself around Ron, the fire went out and the lights turned themselves off. Walking up to Ron, she kissed his cheek gently, drawing him out of his near catatonic state. Simply smiling at him, she took his hand and led him back to their room. He followed, his mind suddenly not occupied by his sister and best friend in the next room.

~#~

Ginny stirred as Harry got into bed, but didn't fully wake. She seemed to hum at him as he wrapped an arm over and around her, which Harry took to be a 'How was your day?" He hummed back, smiling to himself as she half smiled too, each understanding the other.

Snuggling up, and kissing her cheek, Harry felt himself drifting to sleep as Ron and Hermione started to argue. Their hushed tones were not lost in the small flat, more likely magnified by the narrow corridor to the bedrooms. It seemed to Harry, if only for a moment, that Ron was going to take Hermione up on the offer to interrupt them. Harry wasn't worried if he did decide to barge in; Ginny fast asleep, her hair plaited and twisted underneath her where her head met the pillow and Harry, one arm lazily resting over her waist they were the picture of the innocent sleeping arrangements Hermione was defending in the next room.

The flat went Silent as Ron and Hermione spelled their door and went to bed. Harry, and Ginny, knew their sleeping arrangements weren't innocent and Harry's last thought as sleep overwhelmed him was that he didn't want to have an innocent sleeping arrangement. Not with Ginny. Not when her hair smelt so intoxicating, not when she felt like she fitted perfectly next him and certainly not when he knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.