The "Things You Said" Series

A/N: Last year, I hit a follower milestone on Tumblr and decided to offer fics on demand, based on a list of prompts. Once the requests stopped, I decided I wanted to use all the prompts anyway, and began taking every opportunity to do so, such as Christmas, Valentine's Day, Ron's birthday, etc. Between last year and this one, I've written a lot, and yet I hadn't posted all of those stories here. The reason was that, instead of posting them separately, since they all coexist happily in my headcanon universe, I could wait and post them together in chronological order.

The following is not a multi-chapter per se, though, but a collection of drabbles and one-shots, all revolving around things they said at some point of their lives together. Some of the stories are an immediate follow-up of others, some aren't, and while there isn't a plot and you can comfortably read these as stand-alones, they don't contradict each other. The timeline starts at OotP and goes up until after they have their children, and the ratings go from K to M, so there's a bit of everything!

There will be 22 or 23 fics in total (I have a couple left to write) and I'm going to try and post twice per week. Thanks a lot to my beta-reader, jenahid!

Please, if you read and enjoy these, do leave a comment! Remember that fandom creators don't get any other form of payment, yet they give their time and skills for free for your entertainment. Surely you can take two seconds to say something to show them your appreciation :) (Seriously, this is the fruit of months of work. Faves are greatly appreciated too, but I'd like to hear something from you.)

Disclaimer: I'm not making money out of this and it all belongs to JKR; however, I'm willing to take care of these two for free. Just to make sure they're treated right...

Rating: K+

Things you said through your teeth

Ron sneaked a look into the open door, beyond which Hermione was unpacking. He took a breath, strolled into the room and plopped down on Ginny's bed.

'Hey.'

'Hi,' Hermione said, looking up and giving him a quick smile before carrying a pile of clothes to the wardrobe. 'Where's Ginny? I thought she was coming back.'

Ron resisted the urge to wince.

''s gone to help with dinner,' he replied. As a matter of fact, after having shown Hermione the bedroom they'd be sharing during their stay at Grimmauld Place, Ginny had made a quick detour to the loo… and then she'd been intercepted by Ron telling her that their mum was looking for her. He didn't think his mum would give him away: she'd probably been just about to call for help anyway. That would get both Ginny and his mother off Ron's back for a bit. And a little time alone with Hermione was all he'd wanted, really.

He'd gone to her house along with his dad to fetch her, but for the past half hour since they'd Flooed back here they hadn't been able to exchange more than a few words. His whole family had wanted to greet her, of course, and she had been introduced to some of the members of the Order, and asked questions that had only been partially answered about where they were and what they were doing there. But she was his friend, and it had been his idea to invite her; Ron only wanted a couple of minutes in which to have a proper conversation with her.

And ask a question that had been niggling at his brain for the past weeks.

'So, how's your summer been so far?' he asked casually.

Hermione shrugged, pulling out her school robes and hanging them neatly.

'Regular. It's only been a couple of weeks, hasn't it?'

'Haven't travelled anywhere this year?'

'Well, we went to The Lakes for a couple of days, my parents have got friends there,' she explained. 'It was really nice to wind down after… everything. Have you ever been there?'

'Uh, no.'

Hermione gave him a curious look.

'Really?'

'Yeah. So—'

'Have you been anywhere at all? You look like you've spent a lot of time in the sun,' Hermione asked, peering into his face in a way that made Ron a bit too self-conscious.

'Just outside,' he mumbled, rubbing the side of his nose. Flying, harbouring hopes for things he had no way of achieving…

'So you haven't gone abroad at all?' Ron insisted, looking at her for anything that might contradict her answer.

'No; I've just told you—' Hermione interrupted her sentence as she caught Ron's expression, and he quickly wiped off the satisfied smile that had begun to creep into it. She scowled at him. 'Have I've gone to visit Viktor, is that what you're asking?'

He didn't flinch at her steely tone.

'I'm only making conversation,' Ron said, unable to help a smirk. 'How did he take it?'

Her nostrils flared angrily.

'That's none of your business.' She took a couple of books out of her trunk and set them on her night table without looking at him.

'You did tell him you weren't going, didn't you?' Ron pressed, no longer smiling. 'Made it clear that you—'

'Honestly, Ron!' Hermione burst out. 'Why do you care?'

Ron's ears went red at the last word.

'Just making sure you didn't do something stupid,' he countered.

'I'm sorry?' She braced her hands on her hips, raising her eyebrows in incredulity. 'Something stupid?'

'Yeah, like going to a completely foreign country with a bloke you barely know and who's years older than you!' Ron said hotly. Why couldn't she see that? Of course he cared; that's what friends did. She shouldn't have needed to ask why—it was obvious.

'I can look after myself, Ron, how many times do I need to say it?' Hermione snapped, glowering up at him. Her face turned bright red when she spoke again. 'You're not my older brother!'

'I know,' Ron said through his teeth.

'Do you?' she demanded. They stood glaring at each other.

Do you?, he wanted to ask, but for all his cocking up so far, Ron knew that'd be against his better judgement.

That realisation had been something he'd been struggling with for months now. Damned if he didn't know that yet.

'Yes,' he said evenly.

She glared at him some more for good measure, but her scowl relaxed slightly.

'That's settled, then. Put this over there,' Hermione told him, handing him Crookshanks' basket.

He did so in silence, confused at what was exactly settled. When she said he wasn't her brother, she meant that he didn't have any rights to watch after her. But when he did, it meant something else entirely. She didn't know that; she wouldn't know that, and he had to forget about that. Whatever. But he still didn't think Krum was a good idea, and if she thought Ron was done talking about it, then—

'So how's your summer been?' Hermione asked, her casual tone a little too forced. 'You mentioned things had been a bit tense with your family, right? What was that about?'

Ron sighed. He was going out of his mind. This was the stuff they were supposed to be talking about, not bloody Bulgarian Seekers. She clearly didn't care about Krum that much, anyway; she'd ditched his invitation so she could come and stay here, hadn't she? As a friend, at least, Ron had one-upped the git.

That'll show him.

Hermione was here, and Ron got to spend the rest of the summer with her. At the moment, that prospect was good enough for Ron to pretend anything was settled.