A/N: I would like to thank all those who have been reviewing – you're part of my inspiration to keep going. The other inspirations are that I finished the Harry potter series and watched the Harry Potter 5 movie yesterday for the first time. Luna definitely is an interesting character. A good idea for another story, perhaps? Hmm…

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They belong to J.K. Rowling.

Rating: T – Just in case.

Chapter Nine

Ron's face was coming closer and closer to Hermione's. Her eyes began to close, when suddenly, "Ronald Weasley! You get back into this house at once! I'm going to send your brothers out after you if I don't see your face in two seconds!"

Hermione opened her eyes and looked at Ron. He pulled away from her and leapt to his feet. "Sorry," he murmured before bolting in the direction of the house.

Hermione closed her eyes again and raised her hand to rest lightly on her forehead. She took a few deep breaths to calm her racing heart and got to her feet. She brushed off her jeans and shirt carefully before lifting her chin and starting towards the house.

Hermione entered the room with an air of dignity. She made her way over to the sink and dipped her hands into the warm soapy water before seating herself at the kitchen table beside Ginny.

The twins sat on the other side of Ginny, and when Ron entered the kitchen from elsewhere in the house, he walked round the entire table to sit between Fred and George.

Hermione avoided Ron's eyes, fearing that she would blush. She turned to Ginny. "So what have you been doing?"

Ginny smiled at Hermione. "Nothing really. Just hanging out with Fred and George. Did Ron 'fess up to what's been bothering him?"

Hermione shrugged. "He said he was just getting sick of the twin's pranks." Then with a giggle, she added, "Though I can understand why. They get quite barbaric at times."

Ginny gave an odd half smile. "Yeah, well they aren't the only ones who have barbaric attitudes in this family."

Hermione gave her friend a questioning look before turning to face Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

"Dig in!" chirped Molly, as the food appeared on the table.

Hermione was quite shocked when Fred, George and Ron literally dug their forks into the food centered on the table. Even Ginny, Arthur and Molly were hastily piling food on their plate. Hermione followed suit.

When all had settled, and the only sounds were the clanking of forks and knives on the plates, Hermione piped up. "Could you pass me the butter, please, Mrs. Weasley?"

Mrs. Weasley smiled and passed the butter. "Call me Molly, dear. We're practically family!"

Fred grinned and elbowed Ron under the table where no one could see. "Yeah! Hermione's family now. She's a Weasley."

"Hermione Weasley. It's got a ring to it, don't you think, Ron?" asked George innocently from the other side of his younger brother.

Ron shrugged and stuffed more potatoes into his mouth to avoid answering the question.

Ginny snickered quietly, which resulted in Hermione smiling.

The rest of the meal was uneventful – consisting mostly of Arthur questioning Hermione about CDs, braces, and how exactly the garbage truck managed to dump bins of garbage into itself without the use of magic.

After dinner, Hermione and Ginny retired to their room while Fred and George dragged their brother into his own room for questioning.

Ron lay on his bed staring at the ceiling. He was still listening to Fred and George go on about how he'd messed things up with Hermione by telling her to come look for strawberries and gnomes with him.

"It's bad enough that you wrecked the moment with her on the outside of the garden patch –" cried Fred, pacing back and forth.

"But garden gnomes?" demanded George, hot in his twin's footsteps. "You could've done so much better than that!"

"At least 'Hermione, let's go look at some flowers.'"

"Or 'Hermione, I love you.'"

"But no!" snapped Fred. "You had to go open your big mouth and say - "

"'Hermione, let's go look at garden gnomes!'" cried the twins together, opening their arms wide and facing Ron.

Ron sighed and rolled onto his side to face them. "Look, you shouldn't have been spying on me in the first place."

"I know," growled George, leaning against the opposite wall. "Seeing you fail so miserably made me sick to my stomach."

Fred nodded his support. "After seeing that, not even Ginny could bear to watch you anymore."

"I'm sure the garden gnomes were a pleasure," scoffed George, crossing his arms. "Did you forget to tell her how vicious they can be when you invade their territory?"

"Merlin only knows what you said to her after that," sighed Fred, closing his eyes.

"'Hermione, would you like to go see my toenail collection?'" mocked George.

"I do not have a toenail collection!" snapped the younger brother, sitting up on his bed.

"Not yet," growled Fred. "The last thing we need you to do is get another bad habit for you to tell Hermione about." With that he shook his index finger towards Ron to emphasize his point.

Ron raised an eyebrow. "Look, when you stopped watching me, maybe I did something."

Fred and George started, their eyes wide. "Something like what?"

Ron shrugged. "Something like something."

"So you told her you love her?"

"You kissed her!"

Ron leapt to his feet. "Shut up! Do you want the entire wizarding world to hear?"

"Well they'll be relieved to know you finally did it," commented one twin.

"Listen," said Ron. "I didn't do anything, but I was going to. Mum interrupted me, ok?"

"Good old Mum," laughed George.

"She never fails!" snorted Fred as he slapped his twin a high-five.

Ron grinned. "Just leave me be – I'm going to work things out on my own."

The twins glanced at each other for a moment.

"I don't know…"

"You didn't prep me to try to make a move tonight, did you?" demanded Ron.

"Well, no…"

"See? I'll be fine on my own!" At that, Ron crossed his arms confidently - more confidently than he felt.

The twins marched out of the room, calling over their shoulders, "You know where we'll be when you need us."

"If I need you!"

Then the door closed.

A/N: I've got the rest of the story worked out in my mind. Now I just have to form it into words and type it out onto my computer for you all to read. Send some more reviews. I'd love to hear from you – it inspires me to write more! Thank you!