Ron wandered around Susan's home looking for her. He had looked in the usual places, the kitchen, the living room and her bedroom but didn't find her.

Where is she? She's always here when practice is over.

He went back to the kitchen and sat down at the table, deciding to wait for her.

Susan Apparated directly into her bedroom, intending to get out of her work clothes and into something soft and cozy. Quickly slipping into a thoroughly frumpy flannel nightgown, she went downstairs to find something for dinner.

Spotting a familiar head of ginger hair, she smiled. "Hallo! Have you been here long?" she asked, slipping onto Ron's lap to hug him and give him a kiss.

Ron smiled and kissed her back, pulling her closer to him. "I haven't been here too long, just long enough to search the entire place for you and wonder where you've been."

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize how long I'd been at Professor Snape's," Susan said, resting her head on Ron's shoulder. "He's just gotten back in the country and I hadn't had a chance to go see him until now."

Ron's eyes widened as he pulled his head back. "You were at Snape's? Snape is back in the country? Why?" A feeling of dread filled him as he knew it was probably inevitable to run into the older man, at an Order meeting if nothing else.

Laughing softly, she asked, "Why is he back in the country, or why was I at his shop?" Susan swiveled, straddling his lap in a way that might've been sexy if it wasn't for the granny jammies she wore. "He's back in the country because his business overseas was done and I was there to say hello. I lived with the man before he left, and I kind of missed him." Susan's lips curled as she remembered the gift Professor Snape had given her for her birthday and the horrified look on his face when she'd hugged him in appreciation.

"You... wait. You lived with him?" Ron's head reeled for a moment as his imagination came up with all sorts of different scenarios for that situation.

"Mmhmm. Not at first, but he wanted me to, and I didn't want to lose my job. I'd been laid off from the Ministry for a few months and money was pretty tight, so I went along with it. It wasn't so bad once I got used to sleeping in a strange bed."

Ron was doing a pretty good impression of Professor Snape's horrified look, although Susan doubted he realized it. It dawned on her that he was probably imagining a much different living arrangement than was the reality and she let out a bark of laughter, swatting him in the shoulder. "Ew, Ron! Get your mind out of the gutter. I worked for him. He decided he needed a live-in shopgirl. And not in a naughty way."

Relief flooded through him as his face flushed, Susan calling him out on his thoughts. "I uh... that wasn't what I was thinking. Not at all." He cleared his throat. "So, what are we having for dinner, or should I order take away," he asked, wanting to change the subject.

"You're not a very good liar," Susan teased, kissing him once more before rising to check the icebox for supplies. "I'll fix us something. Omelets sound good? Maybe some waffles, too? I'm feeling like breakfast."

The pink color in Ron's cheeks deepened as he gave her a sheepish look and shrugged.

"Breakfast sounds great."

{Summary: Susan runs late and Ron gets the wrong impression.}