Hogwarts - 8

"Are you drunk enough to know?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, I am," Harry replied, hiccupping in confirmation.

"We haven't gone all the way…but not from lack of trying on my part. Further than I did with Lavender, anyway," Ron said.

Harry pursed his lips without commenting.

Ron grimaced. "How about you and Ginny?" he asked, his entire body tensing.

Harry snorted, taking another sip of the Firewhisky.

"What? I told you," Ron said indignantly.

"Yeah, but I'm not telling you. You'll hit me," Harry said. The entire room was spinning, and he was having trouble focusing on exactly where Ron's voice was coming from.

"I won't hit you," Ron said, moving from a seated position onto his knees. "Just tell me quick – and no real details."

"I'm not telling you anything. You nearly choked me for tickling her. Who knows what you'll do if I tell you I've seen her naked," Harry said, swallowing heavily. "Well…almost naked, anyway."

"I told you not to tell me that!" Ron exclaimed, putting his hands over his ears.

"That's why I'm not going to tell you about the almost naked part," Harry said, exasperated.

"Well, someone told me because now I know. Now I have to do something about it," Ron said, his face turning alarmingly red. "That's my little sister, Harry."

"I know. That's why I'm not telling you that I know how much of her is freckled," Harry said earnestly.

Ron reached for his wand, but he fumbled, and it rolled under the bed once again. Ron dove for it on one side while Harry did on the other, each of them struggling on the floor to reach it first.

**~~**~~**

That was how Hermione and Ginny found them when they finally came up to the dorm to see why the boys had skipped supper. Ginny had spent a long time down by the lake lost in her own thoughts and returned to find Hermione feeling rather miffed that Ron hadn't joined her for supper. They'd shared a nice meal together before going in search of the boys, and Ginny felt better than she had in some time.

"What in Merlin's name are you two doing?" she asked, giggling at the sight of Harry's bed shaking as the two boys wrestled beneath it with their legs sticking out on either side.

Both of them jumped at the sound of her voice, cracking their heads on the bottom of the bed. After a considerable amount of time, they managed to extract themselves on opposite sides of the bed and sat on the floor rubbing their heads. Both wore glazed expressions and had high color on their cheeks. They'd obviously been drinking – heavily. Ginny giggled at the way their eyes refused to focus. Hermione, however, was not amused.

"Ron!" she shouted, stamping her foot. "You two have been drinking, and you haven't even had supper. I thought you were going to meet me."

Ron turned toward his girlfriend, his expression dazed. "Oh, yeah…I was. I said that after I gave you that romantic ride on the flying carpet, right?" he asked, obviously pleased he remembered.

"Ginny!" Harry exclaimed, an enormous smile spreading across his face. It was the kind of smile he usually only wore if he was flying, and Ginny always thought he was beautiful when he grinned that way.

His hair was tousled, and he ran a hand through it as he tried to keep up with the conversation. Turning towards Ron with an incredulous expression, he said, "It wasn't romantic. Hermione hates to fly."

Ron stuck out his chest, slurring his words. "Was so romantic. I wasn't like you just trying to make it go as fast as it would go so the girls would scream on the dives."