The Trials of Homemaking & Acknowledging Revelations

"Fred Weasley! You come down here this instant!" Mrs. Weasley shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

"Coming, Mum!" Fred yelled back, and footsteps could be heard thundering down the stairs. "What is it?"

Mrs. Weasley had returned to her place in the kitchen, peeling potatoes (she insisted that it worked better manually), and Fred followed her in.

"I expect some of you boys to help out around here, too, you know, and not leave all your chores to our guests!" Mrs. Weasley scolded from her spot at the sink. "Poor Harry and Hermione have hardly got a chance to rest since they've arrived, and you boys are hiding in your rooms upstairs!"

Harry and Hermione looked at Fred apologetically, hoping that they wouldn't be dragged into the scolding. They had been quietly chopping up various vegetables, hoping to not get involved.

"Molly, really, I like helping-" Harry started, but Mrs. Weasley stopped him.

"That's sweet of you, Harry dear, but the boys really should be helping more anyway," she gave Harry a loving look.

"Harry's right, Mrs. Weasley, I haven't gotten to do this at home for a while. It's kind of fun, in a way." Hermione explained.

"Well...thank you dears. And please, call me 'Molly', Hermione," she put her hands on Hermione's shoulders and patted gently. She then rounded again on Fred and gave him a death stare with hands on her hips.

Fred looked a little embarrassed. "Gosh...sorry Mum...I guess I didn't know you wanted help; usually you like to do things yourself."

"I do, but I would have my sons help me rather than the guests that have just arrived!"

"Ok, ok!" he rubbed his neck. "Let me call George."

He walked to the bottom of the looming staircase.

"Oi! Forge!"

"Yeah?"

"Mum needs help in the kitchen, because 'The Bloke That Just Won't Die' and Granger have to chop vegetables all by themselves!" Fred feigned heartbreak, and he could hear George scoff in their room.

"Honestly Fred, Harry and Hermione have names, you know!" Fred distantly heard Mrs. Weasley call from the kitchen, but focused on his twin's response.

"Alright. Be down in a jiff."

George proceeded to rant to himself; Fred could tell, because the floorboards weren't that thick, and their room was right above the living room.

He knew this was going to be a long chore.

Halfway through their pre-determined vegetable quota, the twins had taken to asking Harry and Hermione personal (and rather ridiculous) questions.

"Seen our sister yet, Harry?" Fred asked with raised brows and a smirk on his lips.

Harry didn't look up from his vegetables. "No. I arrived here and I've been helping Molly ever since. I'll see Ginny at dinner, I'm sure."

There was a pause in conversation as they thought up new questions.

"So, Granger," George started as he separated peas from their pods. "You have a 'special someone' in your life as of today?"

Hermione blushed furiously. "No. Why do you ask?"

George shrugged. "Just wondering. Would you consider adding someone?"

Harry laughed. "You thinkin' of asking Hermione out, George?"

Hermione's blush deepened, if that was possible.

George also laughed and shook his head. "Nah, I'm just inquiring for a friend."

Hermione was taken aback. "Who would want to go out with me?"

George gave her a concerned look. "Hermione, don't be so hard on yourself. Tons of blokes would be extremely lucky and flattered to be able to go on a date with you. It's true." He added when she rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Anyway, I happen to know someone who is very interested in your love-life. Even if he doesn't want to admit it to anyone yet."

Harry looked impressed; Hermione looked doubtful, and George was smiling giddily to himself.

"I don't see why we have to de-gnome the bloody garden; Ron and Ginny haven't done a thing, and we have to do this!" Fred stomped out to the backyard with his twin, Hermione, and Harry close behind.

The four started their hunt for gnomes, a few of which occasionally scampered across the grass and into a different hole.

Half-an-hour later, Harry had caught eight (he would've caught more, but he got bitten horribly by a few, which took away from hunting others), Hermione, twelve, and the twins, combined, had a grand total of...one.

Apparently, Fred and George didn't think they had to do the work assigned to them, which left Harry and Hermione to do the majority. They had planted themselves under a tree, and would point out the running gnomes to the exhausted other two.

Hermione finally stopped in front of them, put her hands on her hips, and pursed her lips. "You know, you may not like the work, but it's your work nonetheless, so you must do it. I daresay your mum would withhold your dinners if she found out you didn't lift a finger to help me and Harry."

The twins' eyes widened, and they scrambled to their feet. "You wouldn't dare."

"Try me."

They sighed defeatedly, and Fred picked up a gnome trying to get past his feet. He swung it above his head for a few seconds, then let go with all the force he could muster. The gnome landed an astonishing 50 meters from the garden's wall, and it was walking in circles for five minutes before it headed off down the wall.

Hermione looked impressed as Fred turned around. He smirked at her gaping mouth and dusted off his hands.

"Happy?"

Hermione snorted and shook her head, getting herself out of her awe. She walked back over to Harry who was trying desperately to pull a fat gnome out of a hole, and the twins watched her go.

George finally spoke after a minute. "So, you really fancy her, don't you?"

Fred thought about it for a minute before answering. "I sure do."

"Damn. You're going to be so whipped in a few months!"

"Shut up."