Who: Ron & Hermione What: Awkward happenings When: Sunday, 17 April Where: The upstairs bathroom, Shell Cottage Rating: S for shirtless (RON, presumably NOT Hermione. If she takes her top off I'll up the rating and revise canon)
Ron didn't want to complain, for once. The floor and couches of the living room were - he hadn't thought it possible only a few weeks previously, but it was true - less comfortable than the camp beds. However, all of the proper beds in the house were filled with people who needed or deserved them more than Ron, Harry, and Dean. Bill and Fleur had their room, Ollivander and Griphook shared one with two small beds, and Hermione and Luna shared one bed in the smallest room, which Ron could not do, even should the invitation be extended.
He had woken early from his turn on the floor, and lay only for a few moments, listening to the sound of the shore in the distance, before getting to his feet, rummaging through his pile of folded clean clothes, and padding through the quiet house up to the bathroom. The benefit to sleeping on a mat on the floor and waking up far before you wanted to was that you got the first shower of the day, one when the water didn't have to be charmed hot and you weren't rushing with someone else waiting at the door for you to get out.
The one thing the cottage provided that the tent did not was lockable doors, and Ron took advantage of the uninterrupted moment of privacy before stepping into the tub and turning on the shower. This was one of the little things he was going to miss, when they did have to leave Shell Cottage. First on the list was Fleur's cooking, followed by watching her cook, followed by real showers and indoor plumbing. He wasn't sure what they were going to do after they got Hufflepuff's cup - the tent was gone, now - but whatever it was, he hoped that it could accommodate cooking food that didn't grow on stumps and indoor plumbing.
Ron turned off the taps, fetching his towel from the peg on the door and cracking it open to help clear the steam. He wiped the mirror before tucking the terrycloth sheet round his hips, and stared at his reflection, contemplating again whether he ought to shave or grow a beard. There was a creak on a floorboard in the hall, and then the door was being pushed open and Hermione was in the bathroom wearing a nightgown that gave his imagination new inspiration. Ron's hand flew to keep a tight grip on his towel, his brain only producing two succinct words in a very different pitch than usual - "Naked, Hermione!"