As soon as Ron finishes work, he Apparates over to Grimmauld Place, curious about the note he received earlier that day from Hermione. It's brief, not even fifteen words in total, but it's been playing havoc with his mind all afternoon. He's fortunate that he was having a slow day anyway because he got very little done afterwards.

He's run through countless reasons she could want to talk. Something happened to Harry on his mission — she's sick — Teddy's sick — he's done something to offend her — she wants to get back together — something happened to Andromeda…

When he makes his way to the sitting room, only to find Fred standing in the middle of the room as Hermione paces around its outskirts, he's even more confused. He supposes it makes sense for her to have written to other people as well if something is wrong, but why Fred? They've been getting along better recently, but they're still far from what anyone would call friends.

Fred doesn't look anywhere near as tense as Hermione, but he isn't as carefree as normal, either.

'Is Harry alright?' Ron asks, his mind going straight to the worst-case scenario.

Hermione stops in her tracks, eyebrows rising. 'What? Yes. Of course.'

Ron feels some of the tension ease from his body. Not him, then. And probably not anyone else, either, or Hermione wouldn't seem so taken aback at his line of thought.

But it's clear something has them both bothered.

'What is it, then? You said you wanted to talk.'

'Yes,' Hermione says. 'Yes, er… Fred and I have something to tell you, and we thought we owed it to you to tell you in private.'

'Hermione and I fancy each other. We're doing to start dating. Publicly.'

For a second, everything screeches to a halt. All Ron can do is stare at his brother, unable to comprehend what he just said. Then, shaking his head, he forces himself to chuckle. He's been at the wand's end of the twins' jokes often enough that he should have expected something like this from Fred, but it surprises him that Hermione is in on it. 'Great prank, guys. Brilliant.'

Hermione and Fred glance at one another, but instead of bursting into laughter like Ron expects, they seem to be at a loss for words.

Honestly, it's a little offensive. 'You didn't expect me to see through it so quickly? Come on; you'd drive each other mad.'

Fred snorts. 'I'm a Weasley; I'm already mad. And Hermione's not far behind, running headfirst into danger all those years.'

Hermione's mouth twitches as if she's fighting the urge to smile. 'It's not a prank, Ron. We've been spending a lot of time together recently, and… and it's real.'

'Oh.' He looks between them, still half-expecting them to try to pull the rug out from under him, but they both meet his gaze squarely. 'Oh.'

'We don't want to hurt you.'

Hermione doesn't say it, but Ron can hear the unspoken end to her sentence. They may not be doing this to hurt him, but they won't break up for him, either.

Suddenly, he registers the way Fred hesitated before saying "publicly", almost as if it were tacked on as an afterthought. 'You've been together for a while now.'

'Yes. We didn't want to tell you until we were sure it's going to last.'

'And you are now.'

'We are,' Fred says seriously.

They both smile, and Ron would think it were sweet if it weren't them. It isn't even the fact that it's his brother and his ex-girlfriend that gets him the most; it's that it's Fred and Hermione. They're both such large, unchangeable forces in his mind, and he can't reconcile what he knows of them with what they're telling him now.

'It's going to take me some time to get used to this.'

Hermione nods. 'We know.'

Ron sighs. 'Just don't be all gross in front of me, alright?'