- - -
"Alright troops," George said grimly, holding his wand in his right hand and tapping it against his left palm, "We have a situation."
"Yes, we do." Fred agreed, standing up from the couch, leaving Ron and Ginny sitting by themselves. Standing beside George, he crossed his arms over his chest, and looked down at the two sitting before him.
Ron was looking thoroughly distressed, as the tips of his ears were rapidly turning red. He also was looking around the Gryffindor common room, making sure no one was eavesdropping.
"Our 'ickle Ronnikins' needs to find a present for his darling Hermione, before Christmas." Fred continued grinning widely.
"Obviously," Ron muttered, annoyed at his siblings.
"I say we make a list of all possible gifts!" George proposed. "And then we can discreetly begin to question her, and in the end choose the best gift on the list."
"Well, I guess that could work." Ginny said uneasily. "But I doubt that anything you two do is discreet."
"Well what're we going to do?" the twins said together, and then Fred added, "Just for the record, I resent your last comment."
"I could ask her what she wants." Ginny said simply, looking up at her older brothers, and then to her side to Ron.
There was a moment of silence, as the three boys thought her suggestion over, and Ginny rolled her eyes.
"That's brilliant!" Fred suddenly exclaimed. "I mean, Hermione's a girl, you're a girl, and girls talk all the time!"
"Right." Ginny agreed reluctantly.
"Okay – so now we have our plan of action, we meet back here in a week – same time, same place." George said, pacing in front of them. "Is that clear?"
"Yeah." Ron and Ginny said together.
"Pardon?" George said, putting a hand to his ear. "I don't think I heard you properly."
"Affirmative," they muttered together.
- - -
"Hi, Hermione!" Ginny exclaimed brightly, four days after the Weasley Meeting had occurred. She sat down opposite Hermione, who was reading in front of the fireplace.
"Oh, hello Ginny," she said, continuing to look at her page. "How are you?"
"I'm fine thanks," she replied, trying to get to the subject as fast as she could. "Can you believe that Christmas is almost here?"
This time Hermione looked up from her book, and said, "Hardly! It's a good thing I did all my homework assignments before hand, or I could have ended up like Ron and Harry."
She paused before continuing, as she shut her book. "Actually, it's a good thing you're here, I've been meaning to ask you what you got for Harry and Ron."
"I don't really know what to get them, and I especially don't know what to get you."
Hermione laughed. "Me? You don't have to get me anything, you know that. But if you did, I would want something really different than anyone's ever gotten me before. Something more exotic than candy and books…something really unusual."
- - -
"Unusual, eh?" George contemplated, running a hand through his copper hair. It was exactly one week from the first Weasley Meeting. "Unusual."
"I wonder why girls can't be more to the point," Fred said thoughtfully. "I mean, unusual? Dragons are unusual, flying carpets are unusual, most of our candy creations are unusual! What an open-ended answer!"
"Yeah," Ron agreed, looking more than a little discouraged.
"Don't worry mate, we'll find something for her."
Now all the boys were looking a little discouraged, as Ron had his head in his hands and was sitting on the couch, George was pacing, and Fred was also sitting on the couch and tapping his foot against the coffee table.
Ginny, however, was eavesdropping on a conversation between Angelina, Katie and Alicia.
"Didn't I tell you?" Katie was saying, "Last time I was at Hogsmeade, in one of the stores a witch was handing out samples."
"Really?" Angelina asked, looking impressed, as Katie pulled out a paper tab and held it up to her nose. "It smells great, it smells really different – it stands out more than usual girls perfume does. I love it!"
"Wow, it's too bad I've already got a perfume." Alicia added. "Where did you say you got it again?"
"Gladrags," Katie replied.
Smiling, Ginny turned back to her three brothers, with her eyes shining. "Ron, I think I have an idea."
- - -
"Thanks for the book, Harry," she said happily. "I've been wanting that New Theory of Numerology for ages! And that perfume's really unusual, Ron."
"No problem," said Ron.
- - -
NOTE: Just something I whipped up, since I was so inspired by the reviews I received from Perfect Prefects. Thanks for all your reviews, guys! If you wouldn't mind reviewing this, that would be nice too. J .
ANOTHER NOTE: Just out of curiosity, what was with Ron giving Hermione perfume for Christmas, anyway?? HAHA!