(no subject)
Title: Sunshine on a Rainy Day
Author:
ebb_11
Rating: G
Pairing: Ron/Hermione
Words: 420
Warnings: Very minor fluff
Author's Note (if any): Submitted for Round 1, Challenge 2 of rwhg_ldws
“How much did you drink?” Hermione asked calmly as she perched on the rough, grainy wooden seat of the barstool. She placed her dripping, folded umbrella on the floor.
Ron sighed deeply. “Not much.” He slouched over the bar, an empty shot glass held loosely between a few fingers.
Hermione nodded. He looked like hell, but she knew he was telling the truth. “I shouldn’t have told you like that,” Hermione mumbled to the mirrored wall that faced them.
Ron shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”
They sat in silence for a moment, and then suddenly realization dawned on Ron. “Hermione! You can’t be in here!” He grasped her elbow and began towing her away.
“Why?” Hermione asked, jerking her arm out of his grasp.
Ron looked around, and then his brilliantly blue eyes fixed themselves intently on hers. “You’re…” he whispered. “You’re … you can’t drink.”
Hermione smiled. “I’m not drinking.”
“Well, but still…the fumes and all,” Ron mumbled. He took her umbrella and led her outside, into the pouring rain.
“Can’t we at least wait until the rain stops?” Hermione complained.
Ron paused for a moment, deliberating between the lesser of two evils. He nodded. “You can’t go out in the rain-you could get sick.”
Hermione decided to ignore the fact that it was the middle of august. The rain continued to beat down on the sidewalk in a soft rhythm. The warm, wet air had that fresh, green smell to it.
“I don’t think I can do this,” Ron said as he leaned against the pub’s doorpost. His azure eyes and tangerine hair were shocking against the gray afternoon.
Hermione rubbed his arm gently. “You can,” she assured him.
As Ron stared out at the rain, a wide grin began to slowly melt over his face. “And it’ll be really fun to watch you blow up like a balloon.”
Hermione elbowed him in the ribs.
“Ow! Fine, I guess I’ll still love you, though.” He wrapped his arm around his wife and hugged her close to him.
“Even when I’m in an irreversible bad mood and I’m ten times uglier?” Hermione joked.
Ron chuckled. “Yeah, even then.”
The rain began to thin out slightly.
“The better question is, how will we afford it?” Hermione asked, suddenly serious.
Ron shrugged. “We will. My parents raised seven children on one man’s rather low salary. If the Weasleys know one thing, it’s how to handle a tight budget.”
And then, as though on cue, the sun’s tentative rays suddenly began to peek through the remaining mist.