DISCLAIMER: I am not J K Rowling. All characters and plotlines created by her for the HP universe are hers. This story was not written to gain a profit, it is for entertainment purposes only.

~Fred and George's Fault~

Several weeks had passed since the Yule Ball, and Ron was curled up in his bed. It was a lazy Saturday afternoon.

He was thinking about what had happened after the ball, and what Hermione had said to him that night.

Ron certainly hadn't expected those words to fall from her lips...

"Next time there's a ball, ask me before someone else does, and not as a last resort!"

Ron inhaled deeply. How he wished he could turn back time, and gone with Hermione. How he wished he had walked up to her, in the library, before Krum asked her to go, and had asked her out himself. How would things have changed? Life would have been so different right now... that is, if Hermione had said yes.

But would she have said yes? That was the worst question of all, and Ron wasn't sure. Maybe she really liked Krum, and truly wanted to go out with him.

"That bloody, rotten git," Ron muttered angrily.

"What was that?" Harry muttered, from the bed beside Ron's.

"Nothing," Ron said loudly, and rolled over. He saw that Harry had the large egg in his lap, the one he would need to perform the second task. "Figured it out yet?"

Harry looked up, and just shrugged. Then, he put the egg aside.

Ron rolled back over onto his back, and dozed. When he awoke, Harry was gone -- and two very mischievous-looking twins were walking into the dormitory.

"Hiya, Gred... and Forge!" Seamus said loudly, from his position on the chair beside his desk.

Everyone else in the room laughed, even Fred and George. Ron sat up, noticing that the other boys quickly began to focus on their own activities.

"What are you doing in here?" Ron muttered to his brothers, and rubbed his eyes. He was drowsy... and he had a bad feeling about this.

Fred and George sat down silently beside Ron on the bed, and George pulled the curtains closed. Fred was taking something out of his jacket. George lit his wand, since it was now dark.

Ron's eyes bugged when Fred unfolded what he had.

He turned away, and felt his entire body burn with embarrassment. "Where did you get that? And why are you..."

Fred and George laughed simultaneously.

"We just thought it was time, little bro," Fred said, between chuckles.

"Yeah, we have enough experience to know when you need 'the talk'..." George laughed heartily.

Ron had closed his eyes after the first glimpse of the picture in Fred's hands. It had been a picture of a very voluptuous... naked... lady. It hadn't been the first time Ron had seen anything like that... after all, living in a male dormitory had its.... advantages. But honestly... his brothers were sitting right there! And they wanted him to look at it!

Fred placed the picture in Ron's hand, and Ron had no choice but to look at it. After staring for a moment, he threw it aside, ashamed. For some reason, it was just wrong to look at that woman.

Fred laughed, and George sounded like he was hyperventilating. Both of them were rolling around on the bed.

Ron's face was on fire... and his body was doing things out of his control. He glared at his insane brothers, and growled, "Okay... I like it. Now take it and get out."

"Can't do that, little bro," Fred said, sitting up, trying to breathe.

"Yeah, we actually have a point in embarrassing you -- this time," George chuckled. "Just testing."

"Yeah. So, ickle Ronniekins..." Fred said, looking as though he was trying to prevent himself from smiling. "You're interested in someone, aren't you?"

George nodded emphatically. Ron rolled his eyes, and wished he had a spell or potion that would stop himself from blushing. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm too young for all that."

George shook his head, and put up a hand. "Ah-ah-ah... you can't hide it from us."

Fred snorted, and lost control. He began to laugh again. "Yeah, just because we dedicated ourselves to OUR dates during the ball, doesn't mean we didn't see you glaring at a certain Bulgarian seeker all night."

Ron groaned inwardly, and felt ire rise in him. Without considering the consequences, he flipped his middle finger at Fred and pushed himself off the other side of his bed. He wanted to get away from his all-too-observant and totally irritating brothers.

Seamus, Dean, and Neville looked up when Ron slid off his bed. Ron didn't even look at them as he headed out the door of the dormitory, hoping to escape to... well, someplace his brothers weren't in existence.

Unfortunately, he didn't consider their legs were still longer than his, so he was surprised when they caught up to him and pulled him into their dormitory. Nobody else was there.

Ron groaned as they slammed the door, and pulled Ron toward Fred's bed. To Ron's surprise, George grabbed a book off his desk and brought it to the bed with them.

"Glad you decided to come willingly," George muttered as he sat down on the bed.

"Yeah, we were planning on moving the conversation here anyway, just as soon as you realized why this is so important." Fred grabbed the book from George, and opened the page to a pre-marked section.

Fred pushed the book up to Ron's face. Ron read the heading. Connubium Potion.

Ron groaned. He knew exactly what that was about. The silly part of it all was... he still couldn't figure out why Fred and George were pushing this on him. "Oh, come on, you guys, I told you that I don't need this... this talk yet. I'm too young--"

George tsked. Fred sighed.

Ron gaped at them. He couldn't believe they had...

"Uh... er... why are you looking at me like that?" It was the only thing Ron could say at the moment.

George shook his head. "Gee, Ron, can you be any more thick? I lost my virginity when I was your age. I wished that someone had talked to me about what to expect. Since Percy's such a stuffed shirt, and Bill and Charlie are off doing their own things, we figured we'd better take on the task."

"Yeah, and Dad's so nervous about all this. I had to beg him to talk to me about stuff. It was terrible. And then Angelina--" Fred smiled, and then George looked like he was about to gag. He put his palms to his ears.

"Er, Fred, stop right there. That's not the kind of education this boy needs," George moaned, pressing his hands to his ears even harder than before.

Fred laughed, and shook the open book at Ron. "I suggest you copy down this potion, just in case you need it."

Ron reluctantly took the book. "Okay, fine. Can I go now?"

"Nope," George said, in a high voice.

"You're going to stay right here while we explain a few things," Fred said, in a singsong voice.

Ron groaned. This was going to be absolutely... terrible.

And he was right.

~*~ *~

He learned just how terrible it was the next morning, when he joined Harry and Hermione in the common room before breakfast.

The moment he looked at Hermione's face, he burned with embarrassment.

Hermione noticed right away. "Ron, are you okay?"

Ron could only nod. He feared his voice would betray him if he said anything.

As they performed their typical daily routine of classes, Ron couldn't help but stare at Hermione and think about some of the things that his brothers had told him. Some of the things he could barely believe....

Such as... was it true a woman could please herself like a man could?

A warm heat filled his groin when he imagined Hermione doing those things to herself.

"You git," Ron muttered under his breath. Of course she didn't do that. She was... Hermione.

"Hmm?" Hermione looked up from the parchment she was writing on.

"Er, uh, nothing." Ron said quickly, tugging his robe at his waist to make sure he was properly covered. It'd be terrible if Hermione noticed... that.

Hermione frowned, but continued to write. Ron breathed in deeply, and tried to concentrate on what Professor Binns was saying. A pity that all he could hear were his brother's voices, repeating everything they had told him the day before.

~*~ *~

As time went on, Ron realized he was well and truly hooked... on Hermione. He dreamt about her at night... and some of the dreams had created, well, rather messy results in the morning. It had happened before, but it was never this intense.

He also wanted to break Krum's nose.

His brothers were at fault. If only they'd never said those things...

When Ron slipped into bed, the night before Harry's final task, he knew he might be spending the entire task alone in Hermione's company. It would be hell. Every time he looked at her, he was reminded of...

Damn and blast... he wanted to kiss her. He wanted to snog her. He wanted to touch her.

It would never happen. Why would she ever want him?

That final thought couldn't prevent him from dreaming about Hermione... with her arms and legs wrapped around him, whispering words of love in his ear.

Ron spent the rest of the night loving his best friend, Hermione. It was the only way he thought he ever would -- in his dreams.