Happy Together
Pairing: Harry/Ron/Hermione
Spoilers: Characters from GoF are referred to.
Warnings: Multiple partners and m/m/f interaction. However, I promise there will be no "throbbing manhood journeying
into her tunnel of love" type stuff. It's not that kind of story, I swear.
Notes: I'm addicted to "buddy seduction"-I love it when friends hook up. Sometimes Harry/Ron stories make me sad
because Hermione gets left out. Hermione/Ron het stories have the same problem (not that I read those...). In some
ways, I find myself liking stories where all three are going out with other people, because at least then their trio isn't
broken up. Then I realized that there was another way to deal with this...
Harry rolled over in his cot and blearily peered at the dimly glowing clock. 3am. He sighed and lay back, giving up on
sleep. Ever since he had woken to the sound of Ron slipping stealthily from the room, slumber had eluded him.
Although it seemed like hours, Harry knew that it could not have been too long; Ron and especially Hermione would
never be that careless. At this hour, the Weasley home was unusually quiet. No explosions from Fred and George's
room, no loud arguments-even the ghoul in the attic was keeping still. Without the steady rhythm of Ron's breathing in
the background, Harry found himself listening, straining his ears for even the tiniest sound. Then he realized what he
might hear if he did hear anything, and blushed, trying to avert his mind from thoughts of his two best friends
doing...well, doing what he knew they were doing.
Somehow, it bothered him to think about it. He knew that Ron and Hermione must have been trying to act the way
they always did when Harry was with them-no mushy names or displays of affection. He knew they weren't trying to
leave him out. Harry didn't begrudge them their happiness, either. He stared at the shadows on the ceiling. The truth
that he could scarcely admit to himself during the day was so present in this dark and quiet room that it was almost
tangible. Everyone that he had cared most deeply about, starting with his parents, had left him. Now that Ron and
Hermione had each other, what would they need him for? They were so happy together.
Even as he thought these things, Harry knew they weren't true. As much as he was fond of both Ron and Hermione
separately, the three of them together were something more-a real trio, an inseparable group of friends. Together
they fought, made up, got into trouble, solved problems, had fun. Whatever was between Hermione and Ron, Harry
knew that they still cared about him too, even if what they had wasn't something Harry could ever be a part of. Even if
he cared about the two of them in ways that he felt sure normal people didn't care about their best friends. Did
Seamus follow Dean's every movement with hungry eyes sometimes? Did Lavender want to touch Parvati so much she
had to hold onto her own hands?
Firmly, he strove to banish visions of graduating from Hogwarts and going off to live alone, while the two of them
found a home together. He knew that Ron and Hermione had no intention of leaving him out of their lives. But the
uncertainty and insecurity were still there, real enough to touch. Harry resigned himself to wakefulness until Ron got
back. It was going to be a long night.
The next morning at breakfast, Ron and Hermione looked-Harry couldn't help but notice-tired but happy. Even their
habitual bickering was more amicable than usual. Harry looked down at his bowl of cereal and tried to control his
emotions. But his attempt must have been less than successful, because after breakfast, as everyone was helping to
clear the table, Hermione cornered him. Her face bore that expression of worried involvement that simultaneously
annoyed and reassured him. "Harry, is something wrong?" she asked quietly. Her brow was wrinkled in worry. "No,
why d'you ask?" Harry replied, trying to sound convincing. Although Hermione let him and his load of dishes by, after a
long pause, Harry suspected that his obfuscation had been less than successful. He wasn't surprised, then, that when
he and Ron were finally alone together in the room they shared, Ron turned to him and asked, "Harry, is something
bothering you?"
"Hermione put you up to say that, didn't she?" Harry asked shrewdly. Ron flushed. "Yeah," he admitted, "but once she
pointed it out to me, I felt like a right idiot for not noticing myself." He looked earnestly at Harry. "Look, I know it must
be weird for you, the two of us going out," he said apologetically. Harry shrugged. "It's not that exactly, it's..." He
stopped, not sure what to say next. Ron looked away. "You know," he said casually, "I, er, know what it's like to be
feeling left out. I reckon that if it were you and Herm going out, I'd feel a bit lonely."
Harry's throat constricted and for a moment, he couldn't speak. The look of concern in Ron's eyes was doing strange
things to him. When Ron scooted over on the bed and put a tentative hand on his shoulder, Harry felt an upswelling of
emotion, so strong it almost overpowered his sense of control. But not quite-his years of keeping himself under wraps
kept him contained. "Maybe we should all talk about this together," Ron said after a pause. "Because Herm and I really
don't want you to feel left out..." Perhaps, Harry thought, it was his own feelings that led him to feel a suggestive
overtone to Ron's words. His friend's eyes were filled with such sincerity that Harry was sure Ron meant it, whatever it
was. "Er, fine," he replied belatedly. "Maybe tonight? In our room?" Ron nodded his assent. "Good-oh," he said,
sounding relieved to be done with the intense conversation. "Want to practice a bit of Quiddich then?"
That night, Ron and Harry waited with bated breath as the Weasleys went to bed and the household noises gradually
settled into their nighttime rhythm. After all had been still for some time, a quiet scratching came at the door. After a
moment, the handle turned. For a moment, no one could be seen; but after the door squeaked slowly shut, the
Invisibility Cloak slipped off and Hermione's bushy hair appeared, followed by the rest of her flannel-clad form, perched
on the edge of Ron's bed. "I'd better make sure that no-one can hear us," she muttered to herself, pulling out her
wand and whispering "Quietus Dormens." The household noises dimmed from soft to inaudible. Sounding satisfied,
Hermione added "Lumos Minimus!" A small light blossomed from the tip of her wand.
The dim glow lit the three of them. Harry could see Hermione's familiar expression of worry and Ron's nervous
expression, golden-edged by the light. There was a long moment of silence. Finally, Hermione spoke up. "I'm not quite
sure how to say this," she said quietly. Harry was taken aback by the unusual spectacle of an unsure Hermione. But
there she was, groping for words and coming short. "This isn't really a normal thing to be saying, I suppose, but then
none of us are much like normal people, after all." Harry and Ron both nodded at that. "What I'm trying to say is-Ron
and I have felt really odd, being together and part of something you're not part of. So-we decided we would rather not
leave you out." She stopped.
Harry blinked. The words he had heard were having a strange effect on him. A strange giddy feeling was running
through his body, effervescent like bubbles. It was funny, he thought irrelevantly. In comparison to some of the
witches and wizards that he'd had crushes on over the years, his two friends were not beautiful. Hermione had
nothing like Cho Chang's delicate beauty, the prettiness Harry had admired for so long. Ron's freckled face and long
nose were nothing like what Cedric Diggory's handsome features had been. But looking at Ron and Hermione, and
seeing them as the best friends they had been to him for so many years, Harry saw something that was beyond
beauty.
He knew that Ron and Hermione were waiting for him to respond. Slowly, he got up from his cot. The two scooted
apart and made room for him on Ron's bed. Harry turned to Hermione first. He could practically hear both their pulses
pounding as he leaned in to kiss her. Hermione's lips were gentle and warm and a tiny bit chapped, but mostly soft. At
first it felt strange and a little awkward, then nice, then suddenly was intoxicating. Before Harry was entirely
subsumed in the new sensation, he gently broke away, not wanting to leave Ron out. Ron looked even more nervous
than Hermione had. Before he lost his nerve, Harry kissed Ron. The slight rasp of stubble was a new feeling, but it was
nice too. Ron's kiss was firmer than Hermione's had been, but was at least as gentle. And Ron's lips were sweet.
When the kiss ended, Harry found himself trembling. After a slight hesitation, Ron took Harry in his arms, and Hermione
embraced him from behind. Wrapped in the arms of his two best friends, Harry felt less alone than he could ever
remember feeling. For the first time in longer than he could recall, it seemed to him that there was a chance that they
could all be happy together.
