“Goodbye!” called Hermione and Ginny as Ron and Harry stepped into the fireplace and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Still smiling Ginny reached across and took Hermione’s hand in hers. “That’s it. They’re gone. For three. Whole. Days.”
Ginny’s smile turned mischievous. “What could we possibly do to occupy ourselves until they get back…?”
Hermione squeezed Ginny’s hand tightly and leaned across to kiss her ever so lightly on the cheek. “I don’t know… why don’t we have a lie down and see if we can think of anything…”
—
Harry stepped out of the fireplace and looked around Sirius Black’s old house - now his of course.
Moments later Harry stumbled forward as something hit him in the back. Looking over his should Harry saw Ron hopping up and down, desperately trying to extinguish a fire that caught on one of his socks.
Harry laughed and Ron looked up, briefly annoyed, before seeing the funny side of the situation and laughing back in turn. “After all these years why does this sort of thing still keep happening to me?”
“You’ve just got a gift for it I suppose Ron!”
Still smiling, Harry walked forward, surveying the empty house, until his eyes stopped on an object propped up against the wall opposite, covered by a sheet. Almost without thinking he reached out and pulled off the sheet to reveal the Mirror of Erised.
Still batting awkwardly at his sock to make sure the fire was properly out, Ron stepped up to stand beside Harry. “So, Harry, what do you see in that old thing these days?”
Harry stopped staring at the mirror and turned to face Ron, fiddling awkwardly with the hem of his cloak as his face began turning red. “Well, not my parents any more - that’s for certain!”
Harry coughed and looked back at the Mirror of Erised. “What do you see Ron?”
Ron grinned and put his arm around Harry’s shoulders. “I see you, lying on the bed in the next room,” Ron indicated the way with his thumb, “while I…”
Harry’s earlier cough turned into a full on coughing fit and his already blushing face turned bright crimson.
Ron laughed and patted Harry on the back until his coughing finally turned into a splutter and then stopped.
“C’mon Harry,” Ron put his arm back around Harry’s shoulders and steered him away from the mirror and towards the bedroom. “Its just us here together for the next three days, alright.”
Ron grinned devilishly and glanced back over his shoulder at the Mirror of Erised. “Let’s see if we can’t make these dreams of ours come true…”
—
Ginny giggled as she pulled Hermione away from the fireplace and towards the spare room at the back of the house where Hermione stayed whenever she slept over. She twined her fingers in between Hermione’s and rubbed the back of the older girl’s hand with her thumb. Ginny could hardly contain her excitement at the thought of what the two of them could get up to and how long - three whole days! - they could spend doing it. Too often of late their liaisons had been hurried, rushed and squeezed into what little time they could find to be alone, but this time, well, her mind boggled!
Not that there was anything wrong with rushed and passionate lovemaking of course, some of Ginny’s favourite memories were of what she and Hermione could get up to in ten or fifteen minutes, but three whole days! Ginny could not wait…
—
Hermione smiled to herself as Ginny dragged her, giggling, down the corridor towards the spare bedroom. The younger girl was always so excitable and assertive about finding opportunities for the two of them to be alone together, but once they were there, well, that was when Hermione took charge.
Hermione took her responsibilities as Ginny’s senior very seriously and took great… pleasure… in making sure that they made the most of what little alone time they could snatch. Hermione giggled. Even without magic she knew that she could make Ginny very happy. Throw in a little bit of magic and add three days in which to get imaginative and inventive… well, they would be lucky if all the pleasure didn’t kill them both! Hermione could not wait…
—
Ginny sighed as she watched Hermione make up the spare bed and potter around the room moving this a little bit here and that a little bit there so that her husband Ron wouldn’t notice anything amiss when he and Harry returned from their trip away that afternoon. After three whole days to themselves, doing what they liked, when they liked, and for however long they liked, things were about to go back to the normal grind of stolen kisses and too-brief liaisons whenever their husbands backs were turned. Ginny smiled bitterly and sighed. She did like Harry, he was family as much as Ron was, but she loved Hermione and it hurt that the two of them couldn’t shout out their love for the whole wizarding world to see.
Hermione turned from repositioning a vase to see the slightly sad look on Ginny's face and sighed inwardly as well. Hermione so wished the she and Ginny could be together all the time too, and not just in the way that the two of them were together most of the time anyway, but really together, as two girls who loved each other. Well, Hermione steeled herself, she was the senior here and glancing briefly at the clock she decided that she wasn’t going to let their time together end on a sour note.
“Ginny”, Hermione called, a sly grin on her face, “now all that tidying is done we have two, maybe three free hours left with nothing to do… unless you can think of something to do with ourselves while we wait?”
Ginny briefly froze and then, realising what Hermione was suggesting, grinned back at her in return.
“But”, Ginny asked, theatrically putting a finger to her lips, “if the bed has been made then what are we to do…?”
Hermione’s grin turned positively devilish. “Well, we have any number of chairs, tables, doorways and even staircases that I am certain could be put to good use with just a little… imagination…”
Grinny laughed and a slight blush tinged her cheeks red. “Well, in that case we have a lot to do and far too little time!” She look her lover’s hand and began dragging her out of the bedroom.
“I think I like the sound of the staircase.” Ginny giggled excitedly. “Let’s start there!”
—
As the two men stepped up to stand in front of the fireplace Ron took Harry’s hand in his and gave his lover one last long, deep, kiss. Once they returned home the two of them would go back to pretending they were nothing more than close friends once more and, as much Ron honestly cared for his wife Hermione, he didn’t feel - he hadn’t ever felt - anything for her in that way, and it was the dishonesty of that lie, the dishonesty to himself, his wife, and to Harry, the one who he had always loved, that really hurt.
Harry saw the shadow of sadness and longing cross the other man’s face and softly put his hand to Ron’s cheek. “Ron”, he began slowly, “I know. And I don’t think I can keep doing this either.”
Harry quickly put a finger up to Ron’s lips as he began to protest. “No Ron - not this,” he smiled, “I couldn’t ever give up this…”
Gripping Ron’s hand he continued, “… what I mean is I don’t think I can keep up this constant lying and deceit either.” Harry looked down at their tightly entwined fingers. “I love you. I’m never going to stop loving you. And going home each night to sleep in the same bed as your sister. Your baby sister. And saying goodbye as you go home to Hermione, who’s always been as close as a sister to the both of us, the dishonesty of it is chipping away at my soul.”
Harry looked Ron straight in the eyes and leaned forward to lightly kiss him again. “The wizarding world mightn’t be ready to acknowledge our love. We might spend the rest of our lives like Dumbledore”, he smiled bitterly, “pretending to be something we’re not. But I can’t keep lying to Ginny and Hermione, letting them lie there in bed each night wondering about the excuses we make for avoiding making love to them, wondering what’s wrong with them and wondering if they’ll ever get to have the families they always dreamed of…”
“Ginny and Hermione deserve better than that, don’t they - they deserve a chance to find real love, not this half-hearted pretence at love that we give them. Don’t they…?” Harry trailed off and waited for Ron to speak.
Slowly, after a few moments, Ron’s grip on Harry’s hand tightened and his face took on a look of firm resolve. “Yeah Harry, yeah they do. The girls deserve to hear the truth, and they deserve a chance at their own happiness too. Happiness like we have, at least like we have when we get to be together like this.”
Ron continued, “And I’m sure that they won’t rat us out for being queer either. I mean,” he grinned, “I’m sure that Hermione won’t rat us out. I can’t say I’ve even been too sure about what Ginny might do if she ever found out about us!” He laughed and Harry grinned back in response.
“Well,” Harry said at last after one more kiss, a long deep breath, and finally standing up tall to straighten his back. “I guess it’s now or never. Time to go home and face the music.”
Ron clapped Harry on the back and threw a handful of flue powder into the fireplace. “Yeah I guess we can’t stand here kissing forever… can we? No? Well then,” he sighed in mock disappointment and gestured theatrically at the fireplace, “after you Harry! If my sister is going to try and murder anybody when we get back, its far more likely to be me than you… and in any case out of the two of us you’ve always been by far the better at duelling and Defence against the Dark Arts!”
—
Ginny gripped Hermione’s hand tightly behind her back as the two girls stood shoulder to shoulder waiting for their husbands to return from their long weekend away. She giggled and whispered out of the corner of her mouth, “When I was balanced in that last doorway I felt that for sure my legs were going to give way and I was going to fall!”
Hermione squeezed her hand and smiled back, “Don’t worry, if you had fallen then you’d still be OK.” Her cheeks reddened slightly. “After all I was underneath you at the time…”
Ginny squealed in shocked delight and then hurried to compose herself as she saw a puff of smoke and the first of two figures step out of the fireplace.
Harry stood up and then stumbled slightly as Ron careened out of the fireplace and into the back of him. “Oof!” He coughed and then stood up patting the soot off his cloak. “Hello girls! We’re back!”
“Yeah, yeah, hey Ginny, Hermione. We’re home.” Ron stepped up to stand beside Harry. “How have you girls been? Hope you managed to keep yourselves occupied while we were away…”
“Uh, yeah,” Ginny glanced across at Hermione, “we managed to keep busy. Housework mostly.” Ron’s sister shrugged. “We went around the house doing all those jobs and things that its hard to get done with you men around.”
Ginny gave Hermione a pat on the back as the older girl broke out into a fit of coughing before stepping forward to take her husband’s hand and give him a kiss on the cheek. “Welcome home Harry. You too Ron.”
Hermione, who seemed to have got the better of her coughing stepped forward and brushed some soot off Ron’s shoulder before giving him a brief but firm hug.
“Didn’t run into any trouble then?” Hermione smiled. “I half expected to get called out to save the pair of you from some dragon or dark wizard like in the old days.”
Ron grinned, “Nah, we wouldn’t dream about so much as going into a haunted bathroom without you there to back us up!”
“Remember when…” Ron started cheerfully, before a cough from Harry brought him up short. Harry was still holding Ginny’s two hands in in his own right, but Harry’s left hand was anxiously combing through his own hair and his eyes were downcast.
“The thing is,” Harry began, “Ron and I do have something that we need to tell you.” He managed to sound both hesitant and determined at the same time, his left hand continuing to search through his hair while his eyes remained fixed on the floor in front of him. “We’ve not been entirely honest with you girls and we think its well past time to do the right and proper thing and come totally clean.”
Harry started a little and looked up for a moment as he felt Ginny let go of his right hand and take a short step back away from him. Hermione remained standing still where she had been, but she did fold her arms across her chest and let slip away her smile of just moments before. “Go on,” Hermione said flatly, “Do tell.”
“Its just…” Harry continued, glancing across at Ron, “we don’t want to hurt you and Ginny… we love you both very deeply and we are afraid that if we tell you that you’ll get hurt… but we’re even more afraid that if we don’t tell you you’ll get hurt…” Harry’s eyes dropped to the floor again and he trailed off, jumping slightly when he felt Ron’s hand drop onto his shoulder and give it a quick squeeze.
“Its like”, Ron picked where Harry had left off, “its like you’re family to us… you’re like… you’re like sisters to Harry and I…”
“I AM your sister you moron,“ Ginny butted in, rolling her eyes.
“You know what I mean,” Ron desperately pushed on, “both of you, you and Hermione are like sisters to us. But we, me and Harry…”
“We love each other - ” Harry broke in, trying once again to look the two girls in the eyes, “I love Ron!”
“And not like sisters!” said Ron, “ - I mean - not like brothers - that is - “
“We know we’re married to you girls, but we love each other, “ Harry lifted up his hand to clasp Ron’s, “Ron and I are in love with each other. And we can’t keep lying to ourselves and lying to you any longer.” His gaze moved away from the girls and up at Ron. “We want to be together, just the two of us, like we have been these past three days. And we know that the wizarding world isn’t ready for two men to get married or anything like that, but we have to make some kind of a go at having a life together somehow…” Harry looked back at his wife Ginny, and his best friend Hermione, “and keeping you girls trapped in a marriage to the two of us when we don’t love you, won’t ever be able to love you like that… we just can’t do it anymore. The both of us love you too much for that…”
Ginny’s jaw dropped. “No. Fucking. Way.”
Ron squeaked and jumped behind Harry, his eyes squeezed shut in anticipation of being cursed at any moment now.
“You mean to tell me that you - “ Ginny pointed at the two men, an action which elicited another squeal and jump from her brother, “ - have been - while we - “ she pointed at Hermione, “have been… I mean… fucking hell. What are fucking the chances of that!”
Ginny seemed to Ron and Harry’s eyes to be more dumbstruck than angry and Ron cautiously began to reevaluate his chances of living through the afternoon, while Harry dropped his preparations to counter any curse she might throw.
Hermione meanwhile simply burst out laughing.
“What?” asked Ron, confused by the laughter even more than he had been by his sister. “What’s there to laugh… why… why are you laughing?”
“Ginny’s right!” Hermione managed to get out, wiping tears from her eyes, “What are the chances indeed! The pair of you are morons - although to be fair I think that Ginny and I must be morons ourselves!” She laughed again and reached out to take the other girl’s hand. “Ginny and I have been in love this whole time as well! Since before either of us got married to you dolts! Imagine all the pain and the stress and anxiety we all could have saved ourselves if any one of us had been willing to take a chance and be honest with each other before now!”
Hermione turned and kissed Ginny full on the lips - a kiss which the younger girl returned with force and eagerness.
“Well fuck me!” Ron gaped in astonishment. “You really mean that…”
“Yes,” his sister replied defiantly, “If you must know Hermione and I have been lovers since we were back at school!” Ginny pulled Hermione into a tight embrace before continuing, “And I can assure you that the wizarding community is no more ready to acknowledge our love than it is yours.”
“Thank you though”, smiled Hermione, “for finding the strength to break this ridiculous deadlock of lies and pretence that the four of us have found ourselves in. Neither Ginny nor I have worked up the nerve to say anything to the two of you.”
“Yes, thank you Harry”, said Ginny pointedly, “for I think that I can guess whose idea it was to spill the beans.”
“Hey!” Ron called from his hiding place behind Harry, but Harry himself just laughed.
“I’m just relieved that Ron and I don’t have to lie to you anymore.” Harry turned his head back to give Ron a quick kiss. “And we’re both glad that nobody got hurt as a result.”
“So, what now?” Harry asked as Ron nodded his agreement.
“Well for now”, Hermione mused thoughtfully, “how about we keep this all between ourselves and see if we can find a way forward which works to everybody’s satisfaction and results in nobody becoming pariahs or social outcasts as a result of who it is that we’ve chosen to love.”
“No!” Ginny cried out, “No that is not for now! That is a problem for later. For now the two of you can disappear back through that fireplace to stay the night at our house Harry, or at Sirius’ place, or wherever. Because for now I am going to take Hermione back to that damned bedroom she spent the better part of this morning tidying up in anticipation of your return and I am going to make a mess of it and, more to the point, I am going to make a mess of her!” She took Hermione’s hand and, as she had done three days previously, began pulling her down towards the spare room.
“There is a time and a place for doorways and tables and staircases,” declared Ginny to Harry and Ron’s bemusement and Hermione’s embarassment, “but right now Hermione and I are going back to bed!” With a grinning Hermione in tow Ginny turned a corner and disappeared from view of a slightly confused, but nonetheless also happy, Harry and Ron. “Goodbye!”
___
The End
___