The morning sun poured through the window, highlighting the long red hair splayed over the pillow. Ginny Weasley groaned and rolled over, trying to block out the light. Her head throbbed from the hangover she had from going out the night before. Her best friend Hermione Granger had taken her out for a night of partying to get her mind of her lost love. For the few hours they were out, Hermione's plan had worked but Ginny's sorrows now came crashing back in.
Giving up on trying to get more sleep, Ginny trudged down the stairs into the kitchen. Molly Weasley was already there, cooking breakfast. She turned around when she heard Ginny come in.
"Ginny, you look terrible. You need the hangover potion." she said, trying to smother a laugh. Ginny nodded and sat down at the table to wait while her mother quickly summoned the potion.
"Where's Hermione?" Ginny asked, while trying to swallow the foul potion as quickly as possible. The effects were almost instantaneous and she felt better, though her head still throbbed a bit.
"I thought she crashed in your room last night. She was pretty drunk last night too and I told her to stay here rather than try and apparate to her flat." Molly replied, confused. Ginny began to laugh.
"I think I know where she might be, mum." she managed to get out in between bursts of laughter. She began to go back upstairs, her mother following her with a bemused look on her face. Stopping outside Ron's room, Ginny turned to her mother and put a finger on her lips. She opened the door quietly and looked in.
"Oh, Merlin!" she muttered as she stood aside to let her mother look in. Ron and Hermione were lying on his small bed, arms and legs entwined. The blanket was mostly over them but from the piles of clothing on the floor, it was evident that they were wearing very little clothing under the blanket.
"Ronald Weasley! Hermione Granger! What on earth do you think you are doing?" Molly screeched from the doorway, waking the sleeping couple.
Ron jumped up, pulling the blanket up with him. Hermione shrieked and pulled the blanket down a bit to cover herself. Ginny couldn't help it; she burst out laughing at the two red faces staring at her and her mother.
"I thought you knew the rules about this! I am going down to the kitchen and I want to see the two of you, fully dressed down there in five minutes!" Molly shouted before storming down the stairs to the kitchen.
"See? You should have crashed in my room last night instead of getting playful with my brother." Ginny teased. It earned her a badly aimed pillow hitting her in the stomach. She ducked out the door and skipped down the stairs. It was a good start to what would have otherwise been a day of moping around the house.
Ginny was sitting in the kitchen eating her breakfast when Ron and Hermione shuffled into the kitchen, fully dressed and faces as red as a tomato. She was about to burst out laughing when she got a withering look from Hermione so she kept silent.
"Ginny, why don't you get started on the cleaning?" said Molly from her spot by the stove. Ginny understood the tone of her mother's voice meant it was not a question being asked. She quietly put her breakfast dishes in the sink and left the room. As she left, she heard her mother whisper a silencing charm so that no-one outside the kitchen could hear what was being said. It was a sure sign that the shame-faced couple were going to get a very stern telling off.
As she made her way up the stairs, she almost walked into her George who was racing down the stairs as fast as possible.
"Whoa there! If you're headed to the kitchen, you really don't want to go in." she warned him as he raced past.
"Why?" he asked, coming to a stop a few steps down.
"Mum told Hermione to stay over last night when we came home so she didn't accidentally splinch herself when she apparated to her flat. Mum meant for her to stay in my room but, er, that didn't work out very well and Mum caught her and Ron in bed together this morning, needless to say neither was wearing much clothing." she explained, starting to laugh again. George started laughing too.
"You wanna hear what's happening? I've got a new extendable ear that I want to test out." He asked her. She shook her head.
"Mum put a silencing charm over the room." she told him
"This new version doesn't worry about those, you can hear it anyway."
"Alright then. I was a bit disappointed that I wasn't allowed to stay. Let's go."
After Ginny had left the room, Molly told Ron and Hermione to sit at the table. They sat.
"What I want to know is why? Why, after everything I've told you about waiting until you are at least engaged, you would do this. And in my house!" she scolded.
"I'm sorry mum. It just kinda happened." Ron mumbled, staring at the table.
"It just happened!? What do you mean it just happened?" screeched Molly.
"It was my fault, Mrs Weasley. I shouldn't have even gone into his room last night but I wasn't thinking straight. I'm really sorry." Hermione spoke up, her face going even redder.
"Damn right you shouldn't have gone in. You two are going to be severely punished for this. You will not see hide or hair of each other for the next two days and you will both be helping me to clean this house from top to bottom so it's clean in time for the family to come over on the weekend. No magic." Hermione groaned and Ron rolled his eyes. Cleaning with magic was hard enough, now they had to do it without magic. And they weren't allowed to see each other.
Ginny and George were outside the door listening on the extendable ear when they heard the chairs scrape across the floor in the kitchen. They silently apparated into the family room and began to play a game of exploding snap.