Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be, except for the plot.
A/N: OK, Sunglow, sorry I didn't send the previous chapters for beta reading. Happy now? Thank you. And thank you for the reviews everyone.
Secret Love
Chapter 4 – Plotting
Late the following Sunday morning found Ginny helping her mother with preparations for dinner. It had become a tradition that no matter where anyone was, Sunday dinner was always at The Burrow. This meant there were the seven Weasley siblings and their various partners. Charlie and Bill were still single, as was Percy. Fred and George were married to Angelina and Katie respectively (no children as yet), Ron had Draco and Ginny had Harry. Together with Molly and Arthur, this meant dinner for thirteen.
Ginny debated whether to mention to her mother her plan for getting Percy and Hermione together, but decided against it. Molly was not known for her subtle hints. Ron and Draco had been primed, but hadn't been told that the real target was Percy. Draco might have been trusted, she thought; it would appeal to his Slytherin nature, but she knew that Ron would be hurt if he thought Draco was hiding anything from him.
She went over the mental list they'd made the night before. Lunch had turned into an old times sake reunion, with at least six bottles of wine being drunk over the course of the evening. Ron and Draco had crashed on the living room floor, Hermione having transfigured a bed for them, and Ginny and Harry had shared her spare room.
"Blimey, Ron, what happened to you?" Fred clapped him on the back as he sat down at the table. Ron moaned pitifully as his head pounded.
"Here." Draco slid a small bottle towards him and Ron drank it gratefully. "That will teach you to ignore Hermione at your peril."
"Can't hold your drink, Ronniekins?" George teased. "What happened?"
"Hermione warned him not to drink too much, but he ignored her. As punishment she wouldn't give him a hangover cure this morning."
"She's a hard, hard, woman." Ron groused.
"Who is?" Percy joined the table along with Katie and Angelina.
"Hermione 'I'm not drunk' Granger." Harry smiled.
"Hermione? Drinking?" Percy was surprised.
"With the best of us. I notice she didn't have a hangover this morning."
"Probably got the cure in her bedside drawer."
"That's not fair, Ron. If you three hadn't turned up at lunchtime, pinching our pizza, by the way, we would never have drunk that much." Ginny plonked some roast potatoes on the table. "You're a bad influence."
"Am I hearing correctly? You four got slaughtered last night?" Bill joined the group, having heard a little from Harry.
"Five." Draco grinned.
"Five?"
"I think it was Hermione who opened bottle number six." Ginny said.
"It was just like old times." Harry said, pulling her onto his lap.
"Is that why I never heard you come in last night, Ginny?" Molly asked.
"Yes. We crashed at Hermione's."
"How is she? I've not seen her in ages."
"Fine. By the way, Fred, heard anything from Oliver lately?" Ginny asked innocently.
"Yeah, we're meeting him for lunch tomorrow. Catching up on old times before the new season starts. Why?"
"No reason. Is he still single?"
"Not sure, why?"
"No reason."
"Come on, Ginny, you can't just leave it at that." Fred leant forward to look her in the eye. She shrugged.
"I thought he might be a candidate for a double date with Hermione, that's all."
"Can't she get her own date?"
"What, stuck down in Records? When does she see anyone?"
"I see her all the time." Percy said, wondering why the thought of Hermione dating irritated him a little.
"You don't count, Percy. I'm talking about boyfriend material." Ginny dismissed him seemingly casually, but watched him closely instead.
There followed a spirited discussion about potential partners for Hermione.
"What about Neville?" Ron asked.
"Camper than a row of tents." Draco told him. Ron's eyebrows shot up.
"I didn't know that."
"Is Sirius too old?" Ginny asked Harry. Harry flushed.
"Actually, he's living with Severus now."
"What?!"
"Happened very recently, apparently."
"Snape and Sirius? I think I'm going to faint." Ron said.
"Is no one straight anymore?" Ginny asked.
"There's Seamus and Dean. Justin Finch-Fletchley, Terry Boot.." Harry ticked them off on his fingers.
"Blaise Zabini." Draco said.
"Nah, too Slytherin." George chipped in.
"Can you think of anyone, Percy? Anyone at the Ministry?" Katie joined in.
"No." Percy still hadn't got over Ginny's earlier remark about him not counting.
"Can you keep a look out then, and let me know?" Ginny asked.
"I'll think about it. I do have work, you know." He was still a bit miffed. "Does Hermione know you're trying to set her up?"
"We joked about it last night, but she didn't take it seriously. But the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of Hermione with a boyfriend."
"Hmmpf." He grunted and pulled his plate forward, intending to concentrate on his dinner.
He let the conversation wash over him, not willing to analyse why he was feeling uncomfortable with the subject matter. He put it down to the dislike of people meddling in other peoples' business. He certainly wouldn't want anyone setting him up with a girl behind his back. Perhaps a quiet word of warning to Hermione tomorrow…
~~~
Hermione surveyed her closet, wondering what to wear. Ginny had insisted that wearing sexy underwear made you feel sexy. She shrugged to herself; it was worth a try. Picking out a matching set of pale peach bra and knickers, dark tights, a coppery coloured fitted shirt and a black skirt, Hermione quickly got dressed. As the silk of the blouse slid sensuously over the satin bra she decided that Ginny might have had a point, it did feel good against her skin.
Brushing out her curls, she gathered them into a loose knot at the nape of her neck and secured it with some plain skewers, allowing one or two curls to frame her face. A light dusting of powder across her nose and a slick of peach gloss and she was ready for work.
Placing her wand into her work robe pocket, she Apparated to the steps of the Ministry at 8.15am precisely, and made her way to the Records department.
"You look very nice today, Hermione." Artemis Bekket, her supervisor looked over his spectacles at her.
"Thank you, Arty."
"Expecting company later?"
"No, I just fancied a bit of a change."
"Good for you. It's nice to have a pretty girl working down here."
"Are you implying that we're not pretty, you old chauvinist?" Kim, one of Hermione's co-workers joined them with Jane, the other female in Records. Arty Bekket looked at the three women in front of him and knew when he was cornered.
"Not at all, Kim. I enjoy looking at objects of beauty."
"That's why he's stuck down here." Jane laughed. He laughed and waved them away.
~~~
Their department seemed to be busier than usual that day. Even Artemis was aware of it, and it seemed that it was a direct result of Hermione's new look.
~~~
"Hey, Perce, do you need anything from Records today?" Simon Munroe, two years older than Percy and popular with everyone, asked. He was also not known to volunteer to fetch anything. Percy was slightly suspicious.
"No, why?" he mentally kicked himself, remembering that he had promised himself that he would speak to Hermione.
"No reason. Um, you know Hermione Granger, don't you?"
"Yes."
"Is she seeing anyone?"
"I have no idea." Percy kept his eyes fixed on his parchment.
"I thought you were friends."
"We are."
"And you don't know if she's got a boyfriend?"
"I thought you were seeing someone on the fourth floor."
"I am. I like to keep my options open. Brennon said Granger's looking good today."
"Brennon's been down to Records?" Percy looked up.
"Yeah. He saw her when she came in this morning."
Percy didn't like the look on Munroe's face, and if Brennon had been sniffing around….
"Well, if I need to fetch anything, I'm sure I can manage to get it myself." He turned back to his desk.
~~~
"Well, did it work?" Ginny was waiting for Hermione when she returned home that evening.
"I had three offers of dinner and two for lunch. But no Percy."
"Wow. That's better than I expected."
"Ginny, read my lips. No. Percy."
"You don't see him every day, do you?"
"Well, no. But I usually see him on a Monday. Instead that creepy Brennon guy invited me to lunch. Good job Kim was there."
"Did he try anything?"
"No, just talked to my chest instead of my face." Hermione grimaced.
"Shall I relay this to Percy?"
"No, don't bother. Perhaps I can invite him to lunch instead."
"Way to go, 'Mione. Did the clothes make a difference?"
"Obviously. It just goes to show how shallow some men can be. They didn't know I existed last week."
"Percy didn't seem too happy yesterday when Oliver was mentioned."
"Oliver Wood?"
"Yes."
"You do know that Oliver flies for the other team, don't you?"
"Not him too! How do you know?"
"I keep in touch with McGonagall. I'm surprised Harry didn't mention it to you, but Remus is back teaching Defence."
"So?"
"Oliver is substituting for Hooch."
"And?"
"Ginny, Oliver is living with Remus." She explained as if to a slow-witted child. Ginny groaned, finally understanding. Then she grinned.
"Oh well, at least that's one less man for Percy to be jealous of."
TBC