Title: Somewhere In Between - Chapter One
Author: Lena

Pairing: Ron/Harry, past implied Ron/Hermione
Rating: PG

Warnings: Past character death

Summary: POST-WAR: 05. The boys are living together and one of them feels too much like "the wife."
Author’s Notes: Completed for the hprwfqf 2006 Second Wave challenge. Thank you to my beta and friend Lorien_Eve.

Chapter One

Ron heard the lock jiggle and sat up. “Oh, no! Harry’s home already?”

He got off of the sofa and put the box of chocolates under a pillow. He shut off the Muggle telly and stood up. He grabbed his apron that had been left that morning on the back of a chair, and he ran into the kitchen.

He banged around pots and pans, as food flew across the kitchen landing in them, when Harry came into the room.

“You aren’t ready?”

“What? Yeah, I’m just running late today. Dinner will be ready soon.”

“What are you talking about? Ron, I told you this morning that we are going to my boss’s house for dinner.”

Ron put down a pot and turned around. “Oh, yeah.”

“Ron, what’s wrong? You don’t forget things like that.”

‘I’m sorry. I’ll be ready in a couple of minutes. I promise.” Ron ran out of the kitchen.

Harry watched him go, then walked into the living room. He sat on the sofa to wait for Ron. He felt something rustle against him, and leaning against one of the sofa pillows, he couldn’t get comfortable. He moved against the pillow again and felt something hard.

“What the-” He put his hand under the pillow to find a box of chocolates. “Ron?”

“Just a few more minutes, Harry!”

“Ron?” Harry got up and walked to the loo. Ron had a brush in his hand, and was digging in a drawer looking for a hair tie.

Ron looked up when Harry walked in. He saw in the mirror in front of him what Harry had in his hand.

“Oh, um…I…Ginny gave those to me when I sat for her this morning.”

“Okay, so why were they under a pillow on the sofa?”

“Oh, were they?” Ron laughed. “I don’t know.” Ron busied himself, fixing his hair, ignoring Harry’s stare.

“Ron, I don’t care if you eat chocolates. I know you like sweets. Why are you hiding them?”

“I’m not!” Ron turned around and said hotly, “I just misplaced them, is all.”

Harry laughed, “Ron, you’ve never misplaced food in your entire life!”

Ron went pink in the face. Harry lifted a hand.

“Forget it. It’s fine. Let’s go to dinner, okay?”

Ron muttered and walked past Harry into the bedroom to finish dressing.

*****

At the boss’s house, they sat down with a few other couples before dinner and chatted. Ron was quiet until one of the other husbands mentioned that his wife had become addicted to a daily soap opera. “Yes, she won’t leave the house during the one o’clock hour!”

“Richard, really, you are trying to embarrass me!” She looked at him disapprovingly, but smiled at him.

Ron perked up when the man mentioned the time of the lady’s soap opera. Ron leaned toward her and said, “Oh, do you watch, To Each Her Own?”

“Why, yes I do!”

“Did you watch it today?”

“Yes. Do you watch it?”

“Oh, yes!” said Ron enthusiastically. “What do you think of Sarah saying that to Ethan?”

“Oh, she’s a tart. But what about Tony and Teresa? Is that not too much?”

Harry stared at Ron while he bantered back and forth with the woman, and noticed that two other wives, evidently, watched the show with passion as well. Harry didn’t know Ron watched any Muggle soaps.

The husbands were quietly sipping their drinks, trying to decide if they could slip away.

Luckily, dinner was called a few moments later. Harry stared at Ron as he got up and followed the lady into the dining room, chatting away about the show.

*****

Later that night, after they had gotten home, Harry asked Ron about the Muggle show.

“Oh. I don’t watch it everyday. Just if I’m home. It’s funny. Amusing.”

“Do you eat chocolates while you watch it?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ron said hotly.

“Nothing.”

Harry thought Ron was acting odd lately. He seemed to become more wife-like everyday. Ron had been kind of nagging lately, not brushing his hair, forgetting things, one minute affectionate, the next minute crabby and yelling, constantly eating sweets and watching the telly, wearing old, odd looking aprons…

Harry couldn’t quite figure out what the problem was. Ron reminded him of someone else lately, but Harry couldn’t put his finger on who.

*****

“Where have you been? I have had dinner ready and you’re late. Again!”

Harry looked at Ron. He had his hair pulled back in an untidy ponytail. There was a bit of flour in his hair. He was wearing an old flowered apron again, with his wand sticking out of a pocket. Ron had his hands on his hips and his mouth was moving again.

“Harry! Are you listening to a word I’m saying? You don’t listen to me anymore!”

Harry kept watching Ron’s lips move up and down, but he didn’t feel like kissing them. He gulped when he realized that Ron looked and sounded like...like…Molly Weasley.

Harry turned on his heel and ran out of the room.

When had it changed? Why hadn’t he noticed? He thought maybe he had noticed at some point, but he just ignored it. He couldn’t let Ron continue like this. Ron liked being the stay at home partner, but this was too much.

“Harry! What are you doing? Aren’t you gonna eat dinner? Harry?” Ron followed him out to the living room, nagging the entire way.

Harry turned to Ron and said, “I have to write some notes, then I’ll be in for dinner. I’m sorry I’m late, really.“ He reached over and pecked Ron on the cheek. Ron still looked upset, but didn’t say anything more. He turned and stomped back to the kitchen.

Harry went over to his desk and wrote quick notes to Seamus, Neville, and Dean. He gave them to Hedwig, telling her to hurry. It was an emergency.

Hedwig flew off quickly, and Harry hoped their old Gryffindor mates would come to the rescue.

Dinner had barely started, with little said between the two, when first Seamus, then Dean, then Neville Apparated to the flat.

“Blimey, Harry. What’s going on?”

“I was in the middle of watching a West Ham match!”

“I hope my Cheeping Charlie isn’t going to be upset if I’m gone long!”

“What the bloody hell are you all doing here?”

The three new arrivals turned from Ron to Harry. Seamus pointed at Harry and said, “He owled us that there was an emergency.”

Ron furrowed his brow at Harry. “Harry, what’s going on?”

Harry got up from the table, walked to Ron and guided him out of the kitchen. They walked through the living room and into the loo, with the other three men following behind.

“Look at yourself, Ron.”

Ron stared into the mirror.

“Yeah, Ve-RON-ica!” the mirror snapped sarcastically.

Ron gulped and looked down at his apron.

Harry had his hands on Ron’s back and leaned into him, looking at Ron in the mirror. “Now, Ron, what did you say to me when I first walked in tonight?”

“I know! I know!” cheered the mirror. Then the mirror continued in a shrill, high-pitched voice, “Where have you been?”

Ron whispered, “Blimey, Harry. I’m my mother!”

Harry hugged him. “I know you like cooking and babysitting the nieces and nephews, but really Ron…I think the hausfrau part has gone overboard.”

“What am I going to do?”

“That’s why I owled the guys. Hopefully, they’ll be willing to help?”

Seamus looked at the other two, nodding his head. “Yes, Harry, we’ll help! What do you want us to do?”

The other two men nodded their heads as well.

Harry pondered for a moment, then said, “Well, I guess each of us can take a part of the situation and try to fix it.”

Ron continued to stare at himself in the mirror. He turned and looked over his shoulder. “Oh Merlin, look at my arse! Harry! Why didn’t you tell me I had gained so much weight?”

Harry hugged him and said, “It must have been all those misplaced chocolates. Never mind. I love you. I don’t care how much you weigh or what you look like, but I do want you to be happy and you just don’t seem very happy.”

“No, I’m not.” Ron leaned down to rest his head on Harry’s shoulder.

“Hey!” Seamus exclaimed.

Ron lifted his head. “What?”

“I can help with that!” Seamus flexed a muscle in his upper arm. “I can take you to the gym and we’ll get you in shape!”

Harry smiled, “That’s a great idea. Would you like that, Ron?”

Ron said, “Yes, that would be great. Thanks, Seamus!”

“I want to help!” Neville whined.

Harry murmured, “Hmmm…I don’t know. We’ll figure something out.”

They walked back into the living room and Seamus said, “So, Ron, I’ll pick you up tomorrow afternoon and we’ll go to the gym, agreed?”

“Yes, I’ll be ready!”

*****

Ron pulled on track bottoms and a t-shirt, a pair of trainers and pulled his hair back in a hair tie. He looked at himself in the mirror. He wanted to go with Seamus and get himself back in shape, but he knew it would be a lot of work. He sighed.

“It’s going to take a hell of a lot of work you know.”

“Shut up, mirror, or I’ll give you back to Dad.”

He heard a crack in the other room, and knew Seamus was here.

“Ron! You didn’t skip out on me did you?”

“No, I’m in the loo. Out in a sec.”

*****

“Okay. Lift! One. Two. Three. Four……….Ron!”

“All right!” Ron curled the small weight to his bicep.

“Three.”

“That was four, Seamus!”

He continued on until Seamus told him to stop.

“Now, that wasn’t bad!”

“Sure. Terrific. Okay, I’ve used all these different weights on my upper body, so now what do we do….Seamus!”

“Huh? What?” Seamus’s eyes looked across the room and Ron’s eyes trailed after. There was a blonde woman using a treadmill. She didn’t seem to be wearing anything under what little clothing she had on, and Ron said so.

“You know, that lady should really wear a bra. Ginny always wore one when she played Quidditch.”

Seamus turned back to Ron. “What?” he hissed.

“I said…”

“I know what you said! Why in the world should she wear a bra?”

“Because…” Ron stared past Seamus.

Seamus turned around and saw a tall, muscular man walking across the gym, wiping sweat off the back of his neck with a small towel.

Seamus whipped back around. “HA! I’m telling Harry!”

“What?” Ron looked at Seamus innocently.

“You.” Seamus laughed loudly.

“Me, what?”

“You are getting on the treadmill, so I can ask someone out on a date.”

Ron groaned.

“But you will be able to watch the scenery as you run.”

Ron brightened. He got up and walked with Seamus over to the row of treadmills.

*****

Ron laid on the sofa, not able to move a muscle, when Harry got home.

“Ron, are you okay?”

He groaned.

“Ron!”

“Seamus tried to kill me.”

Harry chuckled. “Oh, the first workout. You’ll get used to it in time.”

Ron groaned again. “Every muscle in my body hurts, and there are places that hurt that I didn’t know were muscles.”

Harry laughed, then said, “Poor thing. Here, let me rub your feet.”

Harry sat himself at the end of the sofa, and lifted Ron’s feet into his lap. He pulled off his trainers and socks as Ron groaned at the movement.

Harry’s fingers moved up and down Ron’s foot, over the bones and tendons in his toes. He placed his other hand around Ron’s foot, kneading the arch, then the ball of the foot.

“Ahhhhh…”

“You like?” asked Harry with a smirk.

Ron reached out a hand. Harry leaned over and took it.

“Thanks,” whispered Ron.

They sat there for a long time, quietly, just looking at each other. Ron’s feet in Harry’s lap, one of Harry’s hands intertwined with Ron’s.