A/N: hey all, Lauren here! I hope you all like this as much as I liked writing it…here's chapter seven for ya! Enjoy! And thanks to all of you who have read and reviewed our story, it means a lot to us! Please continue to do so! Or you may just see our evil sides…I know, you'd never expect it, would you??

Disclaimer: It'd take me a LOT longer to update this chapter if I were J.K., so this is the one instance where I'm glad not to be her. Though I love her! And no, I don't own Harry Potter, sadly enough…

Chapter seven

Crucial Considerations

"Now dear, you do understand what all this means, don't you?" said Mrs. Weasley sweetly. Wait, what? What what means?? Hermione thought.

"We have a wedding to plan! This is going to be very exciting! Did you two set a date yet??" Mrs. Weasley was simply gushing about this whole thing, and Hermione was relieved, she thought she was in for one of those talks. Speaking of, she wondered what Ron was talking about with Mr. Weasley…

"Actually no, we haven't talked about that yet, he only proposed last night, so, well, we haven't really gotten there yet."

"Oh, only last night! That is so sweet, I bet it was awfully romantic…" Mrs. Weasly trailed off, apparently getting lost in her own little romantic daydream…

Hermioen chuckled, to herself of course. She loved Mrs. Weasley like a second mother…Oh wait, that's right, she is going to be my mother-in-law…

Meanwhile…

"Now son, getting married is a big responsibility, not something to be taken lightly…"

Ron rolled his eyes as Mr. Weasley turned around to close the door. Like he was planning to take this lightly. Psh!

"Dad, I know, I plan to-"

"Now son, I know you love her very much, I've always known, so I don't doubt for one second that you'll be with each other for always, but there are some things you have to be prepared for…"

Oh god, here it comes…

"Well, let's start with babies, shall we?" Mr. Weasley said enthusiastically. Ron began to feel faint.

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For the next forty minutes, Ron was lectured about the birds and the bees, the flowers and the trees, and even penguins (Ron learned at least one thing valuable from the lesson: penguins find one mate that they mate with for life. Ron thought that was cute; of course, he didn't tell anybody that…) When he walked out of his room, followed by Mr. Weasley, he had a look of utmost disdain engrained into his face. Hermione and Mrs. Weasley had had a rather pleasant talk about her and Ron living together and getting jobs and whatnot. Hermione thought that maybe Ron would have done better to have been a part of their conversation, but she couldn't help but be amused by the look on his face. Ron sat down next to Hermione and rested his head on her shoulder, whispering "Oh my Merlin, Hermione…next time he leads me away like that, make sure to shoot me before he gets too far… Mr. Weasley passed by the Mrs., giving her a smile that could have only meant 'success!' and walked into the kitchen. Well, looks like he scared Ron out of having children… she thought, smiling back.

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"Hermione, the man is insane!!! I swear, you'd think he hated children!!! Like he despised them or something!! Well then again, I guess I would too if I had seven of 'em…"

Ron was laying on his bed like a patient in a therapist's office, with Hermione sitting thoughtfully in a chair next to him. Ron was about to explain the penguin story when there was a knock on the door. Hermione, realizing that Ron was in no state to stand up, let alone answer his door civilly, got up to do it herself. When she opened the door, she found Percy looking quite studious, as usual. But Hermione noticed that lately he had become less stern, he had loosened up some. This relieved her, for she knew what it was like to be uptight all the time, and it wasn't really good for you. At least from her experience.

"Hi Percy, what brings you here?" Hermione asked with a laugh, as it was hardly usual to find Percy at Ron's door, of all others.

"Hello Hermione, how are you? Well, I came to ask Ron something, if I'm not disturbing anything…" he answered in a professional manner, obviously missing the joke. Hermione opened the door wider for him to enter, and he sat in the chair she had been sitting in moments before, so she sat on the bed next to Ron.

Ron sit up slightly, feeling a bit disturbed by Percy's sudden presence, as he had been in such a revealing mode before he came. But he was polite all the same.

"Pers, what do you want?" Okay, maybe not as polite as he could have been, but he was at least trying.

"Well, I was contacted by an important man in my department the other day, and he says he's looking for me to recruit some new people into the office…I was wondering if you were interested in a job, you know, since you're out of school and everything, and you'll probably want to be making some money of your own…" He looked back and forth between the two like a salesman, obliviously anticipating an answer. Ron had never seen Percy wanting to please one of his own siblings before, but he guessed it was a good change. He exchanged looks with Hermione, asking with his eyes what she thought.

"Percy, would you mind excusing us for a moment?" she asked kindly.

As soon as he left the room, Hermione turned to Ron with excitement in her eyes.

"Ron, maybe you don't want to do it, and I'd understand if you didn't want that job in particular, but he's brought up a good point, we're both going to have to get jobs at some point, because I assume we're not going to be living here when we get married…"

Ron looked at her understandingly, and he nodded his head. He really wouldn't mind working for the ministry anyway, it didn't sound too horrible, although he knew the hours could be long.

"Sure, why not? You're right, as always," he said teasingly. Hermione nudged him playfully and went over to the door to let Percy in.

"Sure Percy, I'll take the job," he said determinedly. Percy smiled a smile of accomplishment and shook his hand professionally. Ron rolled his eyes.

"I'll see you later to tell you all about it, right now I've got to make a few phone calls."

As he was about head downstairs, Hermione cleared her throat loud enough for Ron to notice, and when he looked at her she nodded her head towards Percy's retreating form. He sighed resignedly.

"Hey Pers…"

He turned around.

"Yes?"

"Hermione and I are getting married," he said matter-of-factly.

Silence.

Ron was waiting for a response, but found none. He stood up to follow him and see where he had gone to, but when he reached the stairs…

"Ah, bloody hell, he fainted…"