Title: Practice Makes Perfect
Pairing: Harry/Ron of Harry Potter
Rating: PG
Words: 1053
Concrit: darkhavens @ slashverse.com
Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be. No harm, no foul, no money made.
Summary: Ron asks a favour of Harry
Notes: Written for


"Harry! Harry, wake up, you've got to help me!"
The panicked whispering, not to mention the hand frantically shaking his shoulder, dragged Harry Potter out of his dream just before he snagged the Snitch that would have won England the cup.
"What...? Ron? What are you…?"
Ron, dressed in hand-me-down pinstripe pyjamas, flopped onto the bed beside Harry's hip.
"It's going to be awful, I just know it is. I'll probably break her nose or bite her lip, or do something worse. You've got to help me, Harry! You have to think of something!"
Through half open eyes, Harry could see that Ron was seriously agitated. His hair looked rumpled and tufted as though he'd been tugging at it for hours. Harry knuckled his eyes and tried to wake up enough to understand.
"What are you talking about? Whose nose do you want to break?"
Ron looked horrified.
"I don't want to break her nose, Harry, that's the whole point! I need to be able to kiss her without worrying about what goes where. Important stuff, like which way to tilt my head and when to use my tongue. Oh, and where I should put my hands while I'm doing it!"
The whole impassioned speech was somewhat marred by the fact that by necessity it was whispered so as not to wake the rest of the dorm inhabitants. The last thing they needed was an audience of curious boys.
Harry blinked, repeatedly, then shuffled himself into a sitting position and studied his best friend.
"You need to learn how to kiss and you came to me to teach you how. What makes you think that I…?"
A fair complexion could really be a curse sometimes; blushes stood out like glowing neon signs. Ron fidgeted.
"I, ah, saw you - you and…" He grimaced. "Well. I saw you kissing and you looked like you knew exactly what to do. Neither of you were fumbling or awkward or…"
He sighed and looked down at his hands, watching them worry the fraying ends of his pyjama cord. Harry's complete stillness betrayed his surprise.
"Oh. You… You never said anything. It was… We're not… I didn't mean to… Huh. So. Do you want me to explain it step by step, or…?"
This time they both blushed.
"Explaining would be good."
"Okay. Well, you need to make eye contact and hold it while you move in close. Then you lean in and tilt your head, and you wait. That gives her time to tilt her head the other way, and then you… kiss."
Ron leaned forward, listening intently, frowning when Harry's description came to a halt.
"And?"
"You…" He shrugged. "You kiss. Look," he said, as Ron rolled his eyes in frustration. "It's not like I was taking notes the few times it's happened. It's one of those things that just kind of happens and you go with it. I don't really remember much about details, it's more like 'Wow!' and 'I really can't believe I just did that'. It all just kind of blurs together."
The sound of someone snuffling awake on the other side of the room brought them both up short. Ron slid off the bed and aimed a determined glare at Harry.
"This isn't over."
Neither of them brought up the subject during the day, too wary of curious ears catching something they'd rather share, though the subject was never far from their minds. But once the dorm lights were off and the final lumos spell had flickered out beneath it's caster's thick blanket, Harry slipped out of his bed and crossed to Ron's.
He bit his lip in indecision as he watched Ron sleep, then straightened his shoulders, gritted his teeth and drew the bed's curtains, shutting out the rest of the room and the faint curls of moonlight. He had a plan.
A quick shake was all it took to wake Ron up. Living with the twins had taught him well.
"Wha…?"
"Shhh! It's me, Harry. I… I think I know how to teach you how to kiss."
Before he lost his nerve, he lifted his wand and cast a simple spell, bathing their inner sanctum with the faintest glow of light.
"You're my best friend, Ron, and I know you'd do the same for me, so… I'm going to kiss you."
Ron cut off the startled squeak before too much of it escaped, and he scrambled out from beneath the blankets to balance on his knees.
"You're going to…"
"It's the only way, Ron."
Determined, Harry mirrored Ron's position on the bed, grasped Ron's narrow shoulders and leaned in. Tilted.
Ron's eyes almost popped out of his head as Harry drew nearer, and then he swallowed hard and closed his eyes. Tilted.
Harry shook him lightly.
"Lesson one? The people kissing need to tilt their heads in opposite directions. Open your eyes and we'll try it again."
Ron opened his eyes, rolled them, grimaced and tried again, this time tilting his head the other way. He watched as Harry drew closer and closer, and jerked back roughly at the very first touch of warm lips on his.
"Sorry. Sorry! Panicked. Sorry. Um… Can we try it again?"
This time Harry curled one hand around the back of Ron's head, determined to get this lesson over and done with. The other arm slipped around under Ron's left arm and flattened itself between his shoulder blades. Harry paused for a moment and thought about logistics.
"Ron? When I kiss you, put your arms around my waist. It's the best starting point, and you can leave them there or move them later. It's… neutral ground."
He didn't wait for Ron to do more than reach forward before leaning in, tilting and pressing his lips against Ron's own. They froze like that for a second, as the air around them seemed to hum, and then they were pressing closer, instinct coming to the fore.
Ron learned fast, chasing Harry's tongue with his own. Their hands clutched and stroked, petted and palmed. When they finally drew apart to take in badly needed breath, those hands were slow to loosen and fall away.
"That was…"
"Yeah."
Ron swallowed hard. "I'm going to need more lessons."
Harry blinked. "Okay."