It was hotter than hell. At least, if Hell was anything cooler than 100ºF, and there was no wind, and the tanned you in 20 minutes flat. The last bit, though, nobody had the opportunity to experience. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred and George were cooped up at Grimmauld Place, while the Order was having another meeting.
"It's insane, the way they keep us here!" Ron shouted, causing everyone in the room to jump. Everyone had been trying not to move, lest they heat their bodies even more.
"Ron, if you want attention, you can't just go stealing Harry's method," George said cheerfully. "Think of something unique!" Harry glared at George, turning his neck slowly to do so. It cracked loudly, and a few of them cringed.
"This is insane, you guys," Ginny said, standing up. "We have to do something to take our minds off of the heat." All of their glowing, sweaty faces looked at her as though she was asking them to turn up the heat. "Well, if we don't do something, we're going to let our brains melt or something!" This made sense, so Harry and Hermione stood up to stand next to her. Ron remained sitting still as a statue. "Oh Ron, get up off your stubborn arse and don't even think about whining." Hermione was extremely flushed, but no one could tell if it was the heat, anger, or embarrassment for using such foul language.
Oddly enough, Ron obeyed without seeking argument. As he stood, slowly as he was, Fred and George announced that they were going to start a new project - something about 'defying the elements'. After they left, Hermione said, "Well, what do we do?" This seemed entertaining enough.
"You don't have a right to say that!" Ron said. "It's mine and Harry's job to ask you that!" Hermione's eyes bugged out. "Well, suppose I don't have any ideas, how am I supposed to say one?"
"Well, you're brilliant enough, you think of something!"
Harry wasn't entirely sure it was just the heat causing the argument; it could quite possibly just be their short tempers. He took a sideways glance at Ginny, who was looking at them, squinting her eyes, her shoulders shrugged, and her hands out to her sides, as though to say "What?"
Harry almost laughed, but concealed it just in time. He nudged Ginny, who looked at him with the same face she had been holding, and he whispered, "We'll leave them to it, then?" Ginny's expression relaxed and she smiled. She turned around and slowly opened the door, and Harry followed her out.
After closing it as soft as she could, Ginny said, "Well, what do we do?" Harry shrugged. "I dunno, I guess we could go down to the kitchen, it's bound to be cooler down there."
"I agree, but the Order's probably still having their little top-secret, no young adults allowed meeting. I swear, they only have it down there because 1) It's cool down there, and 2) we can't go down there while they are, and that leaves us with the rest of this whole, stinking house." Harry nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we should be able to just stay at the Burrow, and we could play Quidditch if wanted – "
"Are you mad? Mum wouldn't even consider it. I don't remember who was daft enough to even bring up the possibility . . . probably Ron, the git."
Harry couldn't help but laugh. "Are you always that mean about your brother? And he's not daft, at least not about most things. Some things . . ." He trailed off, and they silently agreed Ron had no idea about girls. It was just too rude to talk about it when he wasn't present.
"I guess," Ginny sighed. "I mean, about Ron not being daft, not about me being mean. Honestly, we used to be really close, before he went off to Hogwarts and . . ." She blushed. "Well, when he went to Hogwarts and became best friends with you." She avoided his eyes, carefully yet not obviously. Harry was caught off-guard. Now he felt guilty about ruining a brother-sister relationship.
"Sorry," he muttered. Ginny looked up. "Oh! No, it's not your fault Harry; I shouldn't have said anything. I mean, we probably would've grown apart anyway, and part of it was probably my crush on you, it really made him cringe." She giggled, and Harry was surprised that she could openly talk about it.
"You know, we were all up there wondering what to do, and here we are; Hermione and Ron are upstairs are doing what they do best – arguing, I mean – and we're fine down here having a nice conversation." Harry paused. "And you know what? I think I hear them packing up down there." Both of them strained their ears, and sure enough there was some loud chatter beginning downstairs, mingling with sounds of parchment gathering and refreshments being distributed.
"Do you think we'll get in trouble for standing here when they start coming up?" Ginny asked as she listened for people coming up the stairs.
"Well . . ." Harry started, "Isn't the door supposed to unlock once they're done? I thought someone did that to get the twins to stop trying to smash it in." He reached out, turned the knob, and the door clicked open. He looked over his shoulder at Ginny, shrugged and started down the stairs. Almost reluctantly, Ginny followed.
Mrs. Weasley was pouring coffee for the swarm of Order members as everyone acted quite normally; it was as though they were all together for a party. Lupin spotted them and made his way through the talking crowd. "Hello, Harry," he said, almost resignedly. "Ginny." He nodded and a distant look took over his expression.
"Are you all right?" Ginny asked. She walked up next to him. "Sorry, but you look a little out of it." Lupin smiled. "You sound just like . . . never mind."
Harry looked at him, puzzled. "What?" He reached up at his hair. Lupin laughed. "No, no, you're only making it worse." He grinned wide, staring down at the floor, and shaking his head.
"Oh, my hair? It's always like this." Harry ruffled it up a bit more. He looked like he'd just gotten out of bed and walked out in a windstorm. Lupin looked up. "No it's not that. I just noticed how much . . . how much you two," he gestured to Harry and Ginny, "looked like Lily and James, standing next to each other. And then you went and ruffled your hair, Harry, like James always did when people didn't include him in on something he believed to be about him." Harry and Ginny looked at each other, almost embarrassed.
"Yeah, I didn't know how that would go over." Lupin looked at them a moment longer, shook his, and changed the subject. "So, what are you two up to? Where are Ron and Hermione?"
Ginny shrugged. "Last we heard them, they were upstairs arguing. No surprise, eh?" She rolled her eyes. "Honestly, those two should just get together instead of wasting their time like this." She laughed when she saw the way Harry reacted. "What? You don't think so?" Harry blinked and looked down. "Well, I guess . . . never really thought about it . . . it does seem quite possible though, doesn't it?" The more he thought about, the more he realized that the way they went at it all the time, it was sort of like Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. And plus – they always resolved it in the end, even if it involved interference.
Ginny had a mischievous glint in her eyes, and Harry thought he knew what she was thinking. Lupin smiled and walked away to leave them to it. "No," Harry said firmly, when Lupin was out of earshot. Ginny looked up, innocently, and said, "What?" She burst into giggles almost instantly. Harry snorted and starting to walk away when Ginny grabbed the sleeve of his T-shirt.
"But seriously, Ron's never gonna make the first move, and Hermione is just as stubborn as Ron is, so she'll just keep waiting for him to see the light. And you know how dim Ron can be sometimes!" She was still laughing, but was waiting for Harry's reply to that.
He thought it over. "Er . . . but what would we do? I don't like the idea of spying on my best friends in order to get them together. If we do something and they figure it out . . . "
"They'll never forgive you, right?" Ginny said sarcastically. "Honestly Harry, you three have gotten into so many arguments, all three of you, that I don't even know how many there have been. And yet here you all are." Ginny looked up at Harry, who was several inches taller than her even though neither of them was all that tall anyway. She smiled wickedly. "You know it would be fun."
Harry just stared. "You've been hanging around Fred and George too much." Taking that as a yes, Ginny clapped and hugged Harry. He gave a faint 'oof' and said, "And your mum," he gasped.
*
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"Okay, we have to figure out how to make it seem like we have nothing to do with it," Ginny said, sort of business-like. Harry nodded. They were seated at the kitchen table, and no one who was still there really noticed them. Ginny had an untouched lemonade to her left, and Harry would take an occasional swig from his butterbeer. Ginny was concentrating hard on a deep crack in the table, and Harry worried that Ginny might get sucked into the table if she focused hard enough.
"Loosen up, Gin," Harry said, pushing her lemonade in front of her. "Have a drink."
"Do you think it would be too obvious if we each went to one of them and told them that the other likes them and that they would like to go out on a date with them?" Ginny looked up at Harry, seriously waiting for an answer. Harry only laughed. "Sorry, that was a bit fast. Here, really, take a drink and then we'll talk about it." When Ginny just sat still and didn't move to take the glass, Harry picked it up, the condensation sliding down his hand, and he attempted to feed it to her.
Ginny grabbed the glass before Harry practically spilled the lemonade down her front. She gulped down the lemonade, all the while glaring at Harry. When the glass was empty, she smiled defiantly. "There. Now – can we – talk?" She was extremely out of breath, gasping. Harry laughed again. "You're a different one, Ginny."
"No, I just know what I want, and when I want it. Let's talk operation Ron–Hermione."
"You want Ron and Hermione?"
"Don't be stupid. Come on, Harry, what do you think we should do first?"
"I dunno; it was your idea." Ginny knew this, but she still couldn't think of a foolproof way to set up the two stubborn teenagers. After they didn't speak for about a minute, Harry spoke somewhat nervously, "I think I've got it, but you may not want to do it." He murmured his ideas to Ginny, who grinned wider and wider. When he finished, Ginny only said, "Well, aren't you going to kiss me?"
*
"You two stopped arguing yet?" Harry asked. Him and Ginny had come upstairs to see what the two were up to. Ron and Hermione, faces still shining red, glared at him.
"You say it as though we argue all the time," Ron said. He shook his head, but when he saw all the others, even Hermione, looking at him as though he were crazy, he said, "Well, you say it as though it's a bad thing! I try to think of it as a hobby." Hermione had had enough. "Oh so that's what I am? A hobby? An 'it' to argue with?" She was shaking with rage.
Ginny walked in between the two of them. "Now you guys don't start arguing again," she said. "Let's all go downstairs so we can cool off a bit. It's just the heat," she said to Hermione. "That's all this is. Ron didn't really mean what he said." Ron moved to argue once again, but Harry covered his mouth and let go when Ron loosened up. He just said, "You – you're right Ginny. Let's go down to the kitchen. I'm absolutely parched." He turned on his heel and not so calmly opened the door, disappearing around the corner.
"He's so difficult, isn't he?" Ginny said cheerily, and she too disappeared out the door. Harry just shrugged, and motioned for Hermione to go in front of him. Hermione smiled. "At least someone has manners."
Lemonades all around, the four sat at the kitchen table. Ron and Hermione were diagonal from each other, still hot and glaring, and Ginny and Harry sat next to them. (So it was Harry & Ron on one side, Ginny & Hermione on the other.) Ginny was still extremely merry. "So, what are we going to do about you two?" She looked at Hermione, giving a typical, sympathetic girl-to-girl look, and then at Ron, who received a somewhat less compassionate glance. Hermione looked outraged and Ron looked thoughtful and confused.
"What's that supposed to mean? Do about us? Care to enlighten us?" Hermione's face grew steadily redder, as it had been in the upper floor. Ginny's smile didn't falter once. "Well, this arguing thing, of course, and then the fear-of-the-opposite-sex thing." Ron coughed loudly, twice. "Er . . . um, what do you mean?"
Ginny couldn't take the act any longer. She dropped her smile like a bad habit and rolled her eyes at her (in her opinion, lousy and pitiful) older brother. "Ron, I don't know what your problem is, but . . . oh my god, look." She leaned over the table, grabbed Harry's face, and practically sucked his lips off his face - for about 5+ seconds.
Ron may have stopped breathing during this brief time, but Hermione was so caught off guard by the random act that she could only stare in shock. And certainly, without real need to say so, Harry and Ginny were not paying attention to him either.
When Ginny broke off and collapsed back into her seat, she had resumed her act of brightness. "Look at you Ron! You're all flushed and bothered and uncomfortable!"
"Well, seeing as my baby sister just snogged my best friend right in front of my face, I should have a right reason for looking and feeling uncomfortable at the moment!" Ron avoided Harry's eyes, which Harry in turn was thankful for. Ginny thought it over for a moment. "Well, yes, I suppose that wasn't the most effective way of going about curing your phobia of public displays of affection, but my point was to make you aware of how you're always arguing with Hermione, and she with you, while you two are so obviously in love with each other and don't even know it!" Hermione drew in a sharp intake of breath. "I beg your pardon?"
"No, you may not have it. It's mine. Anyway, it's true. You two are so absorbed in each other that neither of you are brave enough to make the next move!" She let her words sink in, and then before she could continue, Ron spoke up, "Harry has been rather quiet this entire time. Would you care to give your opinion of me and Hermione's secret love affairs, Harry?"
Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat, staring at the yet-to-be-dissolved granules of sugar in his glass of lemonade. "Ron, I never accused you and Hermione of being secretly in love – but I will admit it is a bit crazy the way you two always fight – alright, fight often," he added to mollify Hermione, who shot him a glare so enraged he twitched slightly, "but my point is, the three of us, and now Ginny, are best friends –"
"And now Ginny?" Ginny didn't look happy. "You say that as though I've been tagging around you guys for the longest time and only now you are excepting that I just won't go away!"
"You gathered all that?" Harry asked, alarmed. Ginny stared at him in anger, huffed angrily, and shot up from her seat, marching toward the door. Hermione had to reach for Ginny's glass to prevent it from tipping. All eyes on Ginny, she turned around and yelled, "Well, I'll just – leave you to it!" She turned into the stairwell and slammed the door. Ron cringed and rubbed his left ear. "Well, now look what you've done!" he whined at Harry, who still looked utterly shocked. He just mouthed wordlessly like a fish out of water.
"It's not Harry's fault, Ron!" Hermione said forcefully. "Harry was only trying to help, and Ginny took things the wrong way." Ron shook his head; "But Harry could have just said 'all three of us' to begin with, to prevent Ginny from taking things the wrong way."
"Ron, don't be ridiculous, Harry probably didn't even consider-"
"Well, if you two are going to sit and argue and pretend I'm not still here, I think I'll just leave and save you the trouble." Harry's words had been barely raised, but so solid that Ron and Hermione were immediately silenced. Neither spoke even when Harry was, indeed, not there.
Finally, Ron said, "Now look what you've done."
*
None of the group of Harry, Ron, and Hermione saw Ginny for the rest of the night. She didn't even show up for dinner, which Ron insisted was highly unusual. Hermione added she didn't even know what room she was in; when she had gone up to get ready for dinner, Hermione hadn't seen her in the room they shared or on that particular floor at all. They all worried about where she was, but didn't tell Mr. or Mrs. Weasley. "She'll turn up by morning," Ron said, though he didn't seem too sure of himself. Hermione had nodded, "Of course she will," though her voice, too, hinted doubt.
Well after Ron had drifted into sleep and the moon had begun to show brightly through their window's thin curtain, Harry slipped into a robe and a pair of dirty socks and headed up a few flights of stairs. He turned into a corridor, tiptoeing so as not to disturb the rest of the household, and creaked open the door to a room, completely dark except for a solitary candle burning in the center of the room.
Harry looked at it for a few seconds, until the silhouette of a slim, ghostly figure, dressed in a flowing white nightgown, emerged behind it. It sat down, allowing its face to glow in the candlelight and give it the appearance of a burning head.
"Mission: Ron and Hermione, Task One, Executed," Ginny said, smiling wickedly behind the dancing flame.
A/N: Truth be told, I started writing this when my house was insufferably cold, and I longed for the heat and strain of summer. Note, I started it, and originally I never intended it to become anything spectacular, and sort of left it to work on 'The Old Lot'. But I came back to it, obviously, and picked up around where Harry and Ginny were contemplating the fate of Ron and Hermione's relationship.
Also, as my day went, the Summer thoughts just weren't working fast enough for my liking, so I retreated to my room and found it considerably warmer in there. Cunning as I am, I decked it all out to improve the situation best I could. I cleaned my room so that nothing lay on the floor at all (crowd erupts in 'ooh's and 'ahh's), I opened both of my window blinds to reveal snow-covered grounds, but also warm, inviting sunshine, and closed my door to seal in the heat. So then in my shorts and T-shirt, I lay on my made bed, wearing a lei I'd found in my closet, sockless, smooth shaved legs crossed, and I read Losing Christina: The Fog by Caroline B. Cooney for a few hours, who's plot takes place on an island for the first quarter or so of the book. I was in January heaven.
So, now I ask my readers: Which entertained you more; the fan fiction, or the story behind the fan fiction?
Wordily yours,
GreenEyeObsession