Chapter Text
The eight year common room was tucked away in a small corner of the tower. It was cosy and intimate, the fireplace burned through almost all seasons, chasing away whatever chill managed to worm its way in. The room was saturated with magic that leapt at every chance to soothe the war-weary teens.
At first, the idea of a joint year common room had raised objections, obviously, but nowhere as near as it would have been had the war not happened. They were a small group, made smaller still by those who refused to come back. It made sense.
Reluctant agreements were given, the rooms were made, and the group were back at Hogwarts with full intentions of sticking to their housemates and no one else.
Naturally, their plans crumbled quickly. By the middle of September, every student had seen or been seen by someone in the common room and very quickly after that, they had banded together, all animosity forgotten.
As a result, Saturday nights had been turned into ‘party nights’ , an excuse for the teens to get completely shit faced and forget the world.
They were sat in a tight circle. An empty fire whiskey bottle was placed in the middle of it , and they all gazed at it with reverent, if unfocused eyes.
"This is ridiculous!" Hermione complained. At least, she tried to. But she was responsible for at least a quarter of the empty bottle, so her slurred words and the grin on her face gave away how excited she was.
"Honestly, its so childish" she added, leaning forward to snatch the bottle towards herself. "I’ll start."
Harry coughed to hide his laughter. He remembered Hermione clambering to the top of the low table, demanding that the group played seven minutes in heaven, taking control over the seating plan and forcing Luna into an empty space opposite her.
In the commotion, he himself had also ended up sitting beside Luna, opposite Hermione with Ron on her left.
Hermione spun the bottle and Harry watched carefully. His wand was tucked away in the holster on his back, but when he realised that in her drunken state, she had overshot and the bottle was dangerously close to settling on Seamus, he twitched his fingers and sent a pulse of magic to correct the bottle's course.
Hermione cheered, already up on her feet and marching towards Luna, ready to pull her into the one of the empty rooms the magic had graciously provided as their ‘paradise’.
This time, Harry laughed out loud , Hermione had hardly glanced at the bottle before taking off. He glanced at Ron to find him already looking back, a carefree smile on his face.
It widened as Harry met his eyes and he mouthed a ‘wicked’ to him. Harry flushed , pleased that Ron had caught his wandless magic, then flushed again for being pleased that Ron was pleased.
"Fuck. Who would’ve- who would've thought that Hermione would be so intense" Neville hiccupped between swigs from another bottle of fire whisky. He was nestled comfortably in Blaise Zabini’s arms, something Harry had long since stopped being surprised about, and making impressive work of the bottle.
"Please," Ron scoffed, snatching the bottle from Neville and ignoring the indignant cry he gave. "Hermione and insanity are like sisters! Of course Luna’s no different ""
Harry completely agreed. Or he would’ve had he not been studying the bob of Ron’s Adam’s apple as the drink made it’s way down, or the sharp cut of his jawline, clearly on display with his head thrown back.
‘I’m just drunk. He’s my best friend. He’s not gay.’
He clung to that mantra, repeating it over and over and letting the conversation wash over him. A thump was heard from the door through the silencing charm and he glanced irritably towards it, throwing up a tempus. Four minutes gone. 'this really was a stupid fucking game'
Later, another thump was heard and finally, the two girls spilled out of the closet sporting kissed swollen lips and messy hair. Harry watched with a tightness in his chest as Hermione casually sauntered back to her spot, this time with Luna in tow, and effortlessly plopped her into her lap. He noticed the blossoming hickeys that travelled down her neck into the collar of her blouse, and the matching ones that Luna was sporting with an odd feeling of jealousy.
Unbidden, he sought out Ron again, and again, he was already looking back. The redhead held eye contact with Harry even as he picked up the bottle amidst the continued playful jeers and cheers from the rest of the crowd. It was as if Harry had been placed in a full-body bind, completely locked in place and forced to watch as the bottle spun round and round.
For a few seconds, no one noticed when it stopped. Except for Harry. Who was staring at the neck of the bottle pointing directly at him. He hardly noticed when the room went silent, to busy trying to decipher the look on Ron's face. For once, the redhead's face gave nothing away. He was still staring at Harry, and had made no move to turn the bottle away.
Suddenly, a sharp whistle broke through the quiet and a loud "nice one, Weasley" rang out from the corner of the room. Still, Harry didn't dare to breathe. His heart was thudding in his chest, doing it's very best to spill out onto the floor, right next to the bottle.
Ron was still staring, and since neither of them had made a move to get up, the room was starting to descend into an awkward silence.
Panicked, Harry searched his brain for anything to say that want an embarrassing plea to be whisked away to 'heaven'. Denial was the right thing to do. Ron was his best friend. He couldn't, wouldn't let his selfish desires get in the way of their friendship, it was just an accident.
"I-" he started, but Ron was already getting to his feet.
"well?" he asked, cocking his eyebrow in a way that threatened to make Harry forget everything. "aren't we going to have raunchy fun in heaven?"
Harry was dead. That was the only logical explanation as to why Ron was now in front of him, hand outstretched to pull him up and take him to heaven.
"yeah, raunchy fun" he echoed weakly, taking his hand-warm and allowing himself to be pulled up on embarrassingly unsteady legs. He just about held in a gasp when Ron gripped him tighter and interlaced their fingers, using it to lead them towards the room among the wolf whistles that had started up again.
He chanced a glance back and was met with the delighted face of Hermione, giving him aggressive thumbs ups before he was alone in the room. With Ron.