Summary: After five years have passed and Hermione and Ron still haven't realized that they like each other, Harry figures that, with the help of a joke shop and a few drink glasses, he can give them a little push.
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: The Harry Potter characters and previous plot belong to J.K. Rowling. I only own the plot of this fanfiction.

Love Plus Four
ChapterSix : Product S001

Hermione was not sleeping, but she was as restless as Ron. She slowly pulled everything out of her bookbag, including the drink glass from breakfast. Staring at the goblet, Hermione gave it an intimidating glare before resigning herself to her fate.

"Ugh," she said aloud, frustrated that the image of a certain redhead remained prominently displayed across the goblet. She turned to one of the books she had taken from the school library, titledMagic Mirror.Page 1 read:

"The Mirror of Erised shows the viewer their innermost desire. However, this is not always attainable. It is in cases such as these that the mirror poses a danger. Many a case of devastation has been chronicled when the user found that their most-desired thing could not be acquired. The viewer must be able to accept the truth..."

Hermione slammed the book shut. I knew it, she thought proudly. Harry was telling us about it during First Year.. Frustrated with her results, she turned to the cause of the situation, as opposed to her 'undesirable' conclusion (the fact that Ron was her most-treasured thing). This glass is obviously made from a substance like those implemented in the Mirror of Erised. Which means someone had to give Ron and I these 'special' goblets. Which means someone was trying to set us up. She began listing the culprits. Fred? George? No, what would they have to gain? Harry, maybe. But usually he knows enough to stay out of our arguments. Then all that leaves is...Ginny. I should have known! Oh, well. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. If she wants to play matchmaker, then we can set the boys up. Right. Suddenly, a wave of drowsiness came over Hermione.

"Well, that's the last time I drink butterbeer before going to bed," she said quietly before stuffing Magic Mirror back in her bag and tossing it and the goblet to the floor. With a yawn, Hermione crawled under the covers. Closing her eyes, she dreamt about flying on a broomstick, an activity which would usually scare the living daylights out of her. But she was riding with Ron, which somehow made it okay.

The rest of the week passed uneventfully, for the most part. Ron kept staring at Hermione throughout their shared classes and mealtimes, but would blush and look away when she discovered his glances. Hermione, on the other hand, was often seen giggling with Ginny and talking in whispers, but the two would cease their planning whenever confronted.

Ron felt uneasy about this, as well as the fact that he was being shunned by his brothers.This abandonment was accompanied by an official (if temporary) ban from the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes store.

"You're clumsy, Ron," Fred had told him after Ron confronted the twins.

"We have a potentially dangerous new test product, and we can't have you disrupting our progress."

While Ron was pouting as he stirred his scrambled eggs around his plate on that Thursday morning, Harry asked the elder Weasleys what this new ban supposed to accomplish.

"Har-ry," Fred fake-moaned, "you don't want to disrupt our sales or your endeavors, do you?"

"If Ron found out about our little Spoiled Secrets product, we're all in trouble. Ronnie would tell everyone that we were doing unauthorized student testing, and he'd also realize you're trying to set him up with Hermione," George clarified.
Harry replied, "Do you really think he'd notice?"

Fred shrugged. "But if the plan works, then he and Hermione will be spending much more time with each other. That should keep Hermione out of the store, too. After all, she's the one most likely to pick up on it."

The Boy Who Lived nodded.

"See you later, then," George said as the twins left the table. Hermione and Ginny watched as the two walked out of the Hall, proceeding to whisper faster.

Ron looked concerned about this. His glances at the bookworm had become more obvious over the days. Harry couldn't tell, however, whether Hermione's reaction was positive or negative. To top it off, Ron didn't seem to care about his 'obviousness,' either. Suddenly, he burst and met Harry with a query.

"Do you think Hermione fancies Fred?"

Harry almost burst out in hysterical laughter at this, but restrained himself after taking in the solemn look of horror on the keeper's face. "Of course not, Ron," he replied, trying to think of a logical answer (that is, one that wasn't composed of, "She likes you, peabrain,"). He finally said, "Wouldn't that mean that Ginny likes George? I mean, they're always talking together, as if they agree with each other."

Ron looked even more nauseated after this, but soon composed himself. "Thanks, Harry. I guess you're right," he said before feasting on his scrambled eggs with renewed vigor.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. The rest of the day proceeded to drag on slowly. The next day, however, was slightly different. Ron continued his occasional stares, but when he was not looking and Hermione was not chatting with Ginny, the bookworm sent anxious glances back his way. Fred and George watched the action between the two "guinea pigs" with interest.

Suddenly, Ron stood up from the table in a determined manner. He walked the short distance over to where Hermione was sitting, wringing his hands slightly. The immediate section of the Gryffindor table quieted down as Ron tapped her on the shoulder. "Uhh..Hermione?"

"Yes, Ron?" she replied, acting rather uptight. But anyone could tell that there was a sparkle in her eyes that had been absent previously.

"Would you like to go out with me?" he asked hurriedly. "I mean I'm banned from the joke shop, but there's loads of other things we could do. Go to the Shrieking Shack, even, er, the bookstore, if-"

Hermione had silenced him by putting a finger to his lips. "If you're asking me to be your girlfriend, then I accept."

Ginny winked at Harry from her spot a few seats down. Tossing him a note scribbled on a scrap of Hermione's Daily Prophet, he read, "Well, that was a bit dramatic."

Harry grinned and turned to the twins, who had suddenly conducted an elaborate high-five of sorts. Their section of table turned to stare at the elder Weasleys.

Fred grinned and announced, "Test product S001 is a success!"

Author's Note: Yahoo! Loople-doo! It's summer and I have free time to finish this! I actually wrote this and the last chapter when I was at the Denver, Colorado airport. I had something of a six-hour layover. It was rather boring. At least I got this out of the way.. well, I hope you're enjoying the end of this story. One chapter to go. Please review! I'm going to have the next chapter up before Half-Blood Prince comes out. Once again; please review!