part III

The Haircut part III by shalimar1981

"Hey, Lupin, nice hair," Ron said when Remus came in for dinner a few hours later.

"You like it? Hermione cut it for me," Remus replied proudly, realising too late what Hermione's frantic waving behind Ron's back meant. What was the matter?

Then he remembered how she had finished his haircut.

"Well, it's okay." He tried to tone his enthusiasm down a bit, watching Hermione's reaction. Seeing her smile at him in relief relaxed him a little.

"You were certainly more enthusiastic earlier, Remus. She did you a favour. The least you can do is be appreciative of her efforts," Molly remarked, frowning at him, before she turned back to the stove.

"Believe me, I am," he muttered under his breath, low enough so no one would hear.

"Why do you never cut my hair?" Ron whispered to Hermione with a sidelong glance to see if his mother could hear him. Hermione kicked his shin if Ron's grunt of pain and annoyed look were anything to go by. Then she pointedly ignored him and got up to help Molly distribute food into various bowls.

Remus got up to help as well. Their hands touching and the intense looks exchanged between him and Hermione seemed coincidental and, they thought, inconspicuous. Until...

"Does she have something in her eye, Lupin?" Ron asked, tactful as ever.

"Ron! Shut up!"

"But he's looking at her as if—"

"Ron—"

"—OH!" Ron stared at Hermione as if his world had come to an end. "But he's old, Hermione! And... and..."

"He's not!" Hermione replied heatedly, her cheeks flushed in anger and gripping a juice-pitcher tightly. "He's kind and gentle and intelligent... and he's a man! He knows what he wants. And he likes my hair!" she yelled, then brought a hand to her mouth in mortification. She lowered the pitcher and flopped down into her chair with a thump. Hands wringing in her lap and face flushed in embarrassment, she studied the table.

"Well." Harry's gaze was alternating between Hermione and Remus, who was looking at her as if she had just given him the world. Remus sat down beside her and slid his hand beneath the table, grasping her hand gently and giving it an encouraging squeeze.

"That was very enlightening and all, but could we please eat now?" asked Fred, breaking the awkward silence.

Molly heaved a sigh of relief, and everybody relaxed, the tension abating.

They all started eating at once and watched the newly established couple with interest. The two of them kept holding hands all throughout dinner, blissfully ingnorant.

Afterwards Molly bustled them out of the kitchen, returning to clean the kitchen with the others.

When she closed the door behind her, Ron voiced, not a little incredulously, what they all had been thinking since Hermione's revelation. "He likes her hair?!"

A sound smack was all the answer Ron received. "Mom! What the bloody hell was that for?"