𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 | 𝐡. 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫

𝟏𝟓𝟖 - 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐡

Ron was surprisingly the first one awake out of all of them, awake and already in the midst of preparing breakfast when Ophelia lightly padded down the carpeted stairs to the kitchen, he raised his head from the plate of frying bacon to see who it was and upon seeing her sighed in relief, abandoning his post over the stove he crossed the space to wrap her in a brotherly hug, squeezing her warmly, she hugged him back, her arms connecting at his lower back while his own crossed her shoulders to cup his elbows.

He rested his cheek ontop of her head as they swayed a little, Ophelia found herself letting out a deep breath from somewhere inside of her soul.

"You scared me." his words vibrated against her face.

"I'm sorry." she whispered.

"You should be," he said softly as he ran a hand down the back of her head, "You don't get to scare me like that anymore Phee, I've had enough frights from you to last a dozen lifetimes."

"I'm sorry."

"I know, just don't do it again." said Ron pulling away to give her a brotherly squeeze on her shoulder, "I'm glad you're here Phee," he told her. "So you can tell me if this egg looks about done."

She swatted his arm playfully as she brushed past him to the stove to check on the state of his eggs, she sprinkled a light dusting of salt and pepper on them before taking them off of the heat so they didn't overcook into tasteless mush.

"How come you're awake?" asked Ophelia as she poured the two of them some orange juice, "This wouldn't have anything to do with my best friend curled up on the couch by any chance now would it?"

She handed Ron the glass of cold orange juice which he took with a "thanks".

"Sometimes I reckon you're too clever for your own good." he murmured as he took a grateful sip of his orange juice.

"I think you might be right about that," she said as she leaned her elbows back on the counter as she looked out of the open door at the beach, at the gentle waves lapping onto the shore, the sky still basked in the early morning purple before the sun rose. "Go on, fill me in."

Ron respectfully pulled up her cardigan which had fallen from her exposed shoulder and returned back to its place, in the corner of her eye she caught his retreating hand running through his damp hair which she assumed was because of the shower he'd had, he smelt more like himself now and not just of car, sweat and mud which they were all guilty of ponging like much to their mutual dismay.

"Well, most of the beds are occupied now," said Ron as he scratched the back of his neck, "And I leant the tent to Sirius, Regulus and the others we rescued to help make them more comfortable, Hagrid was worried sick about Grawp, while Harry was upstairs in bed and you were down here getting fixed by Regulus me and Hermione decided to try and make Hagrid a brew to make him feel a bit more at ease and as it happens we didn't have enough milk for even one small cup of tea let alone one for a half-giant so we opted to pop to the shop... it was this random petrol station in the middle of nowhere, really quiet, just us two and I kept thinking about what you said about making a move and I was getting worried I'd mess it up so I didn't end up doing anything at all which ended up making it all really awkward... but when we got back here Hagrid was asleep and everyone but Sirius and Regulus had gone to bed, except there was no bed since Sirius and Regulus had opted to combine theirs for Hagrid to sleep... there was the couch and the floor so I made Hermione take the couch and I'd take the floor but she was cold so I hugged her and eventually it turned into a cuddle and then she passed out... in all the time I was hugging her I was there thinking how I didn't want anyone else to hug her like that... y'know... but then I realised that if I were going to hug her again I didn't want to smell like an ogre's armpit so I opted for a shower and when I came back I saw she was still where I left her but was reaching for something... I thought about getting back in there but I don't know what to do when she wakes up, pretend like it didn't happen, but if I didn't then what would I even say to her? I have no clue what I'm supposed to do so I thought... well, it's probably best that if we did talk then we'd have something to eat while we do... and here I am..."