"BILL! CHARLIE!" Ginny shrieked and ran towards her eldest brothers.
"Whoa! Ginny, calm down." Bill laughed as he gave her a hug.
"Yeah Ginny, people in France heard you." Charlie chuckled.
"I'm just so happy you guys are here."
"We've noticed." Ginny smiled and went into the kitchen.
"Oh Bill, Charlie!" Mrs. Weasley appeared and kissed them both on the cheek. "It's so nice to have the two of you back here! We haven't seen you all year!"
"We're fine mum." Said Bill.
"It's good to be back here." Said Charlie looking around the place he has called home all his life.
"It's good to have you back, dear. Everyone is in the kitchen, come now, both of you and have some breakfast and you two could have a lie-down afterwards, you two will be sharing a room with Fred and George." She magicked their trunks to the twins' room and led them through the kitchen door, where they were greeted by the rest of the Weasleys (minus Percy, obviously), Harry, and Hermione.
"Ahh… Bill, Charlie." Mr. Weasley greeted his eldest sons.
"Hi, dad." They both said, they greeted the rest of the family, Harry and Hermione.
"Ok, let's eat." Said Mrs. Weasley, the room was soon filled with the sound of silverware on plates, conversation and laughter.
"Want to join us in a game of Quidditch after breakfast?" George asked his two brothers. They immediately agreed. At first, Mrs. Weasley disapproved of this and said that they should rest, but Bill and Charlie convinced her that they would rest after they played. They finished breakfast, Harry, Bill and Charlie went upstairs to get their brooms and quickly came back down. Hermione decided that she would only watch their game, so they all put on their coasts and headed towards the clearing.
"Wait a minute, I've just noticed that were unequal again." Said Fred as they reached the clearing.
"No were not, there's eight of us." Objected Ron.
"Yeah, we are unequal. There's Bill, Charlie, me, George, Ron, Ginny, and Harry since Hermione is just watching this time." Said Fred as he did a head count.
"I guess one will sit out first, but after a few minutes they can join while another sits out." Harry suggested to the others.
"That sounds logical." Said George. Ginny volunteered to sit out first and joined Hermione as the others divided into teams (Harry, Fred and Charlie against Ron, Bill and George). Ginny and Hermione volunteered to keep score, occasionally cheering.
"Go Bill!"
"Block it!"
"No, don't block it!"
"Good job Fred!" Hermione cheered as Fred made a spectacular save. Fred blushed slightly but no one took any notice as they were determined to play and win. The game went on for a few more minutes, then they called for a time out to let Ginny join, Fred sat out this time. Then the game started where it left off.
"What's the score, I've lost count." Fred asked Hermione as he joined her.
"It's 80-50 to your team." Commented Hermione. "That was a nice save a while ago. It looked difficult."
"It was, it's not easy to block Bill's shots."
"I can tell." She replied as she saw Bill get the quaffle past Ginny. "So the score is now 80-60." Fred smiled. "What are you smiling about?"
"It's just, you're a bit more enthusiastic about Quidditch now, that's all." The game went on a few more minutes later, when Mrs. Weasley came up to them and told them to stop with their game to let Bill and Charlie rest. Everyone landed looking a bit disgruntled that the game couldn't go on.
"What's the final score?" Ron asked.
"160-150 to our team when mom told us to stop." Replied Fred "it was really close." They went back into the house, changed out of their clothes into warmer ones and they all ate lunch as they sat in front of the fire. Bill gave a sigh of content and struck up a conversation, "So, who's dating who?" everyone except Charlie chocked on their sandwiches and looked at him, Bill raised his eyebrows. "Considering how you all reacted I'm guessing I've hit home. So far, I only know who George is dating." George sputtered.
"What? Who told you?"
"Mom told us."
"Us?"
"Charlie and I."
"It's true, George." Charlie said as George gave him an is-it-true? Look.
"So anyway" said Bill "back to my question, who is dating who?"
"Ginny's dating Harry." George blurted out.
"George!" yelled Harry, blushing furiously as he looked at Bill to see what he though about this.
Bill shrugged. "It was bound to happen."
"Bill!" Ginny yelled.
"So who's Ron dating?" Charlie asked. Ron's ears turned pink but didn't answer. Fred and George sniggered, they decided to poke some fun at Ron.
"A very delightful girl." Said George, everyone looked at him and Fred.
"Oh yes, very delightful." Fred teased.
"Can't seem to remember her name though. It's something like Violet Grey."
"No, isn't it Lilac White?"
"It's Lavender Brown." Ron said irritably, his ears turned bright red as he realized that Fred and George just tricked him into saying her name. Fred and George ran as Ron jumped up and started chasing them around the room shouting threats at them about what he would do when he catches them ("You mean if you catch us." Fred teased), everyone laughed as each threat sounded more absurd as the last.
"So that's Ginny and Harry, Ron and Lavender, George and Alicia" said Bill over the commotion, ticking his fingers as he said their names, "that must mean Fred and Hermione are together." A lot of things happened at once after he said this, Hermione stopped laughing, Fred suddenly stopped running causing George to run into him knocking both of them to the floor causing Ron to trip over them and falling on top of George who was on top of Fred, Harry and Ginny stared wide-eyed at Bill.
"What!" Hermione said suddenly.
"What made you think that?" Fred said as he pushed both George and Ron off of him and stood up.
"It's possible, isn't it?" Bill shrugged. Hermione and Fred look at each other; Hermione blushed slightly and looked away.
"Oh yes its possible" said Hermione, which caused everyone to stare "just highly unlikely." She finished indifferently. At this, she got up and asked Ginny to accompany her upstairs, although Ginny was a bit confused, she agreed.
-- --
"Hermione, what's going on?" Ginny asked as they reached their room and sat down on Hermione's bed.
"I have to tell you something."
"Does it have anything to do what Bill said? Because I'm sure he was just kidding about all that."
"It sort of has something to do with that. And I know I can trust you, so I'll tell you everything." Hermione took a deep breath and began to tell Ginny everything and explained how she felt about them. That time Fred had paid for her meal when they were in Hogsmead; when he sat out of the game of Exploding Snap; the time he commented on her singing and on a certain line of the song; the time when he suggested that they share a broom when they played Quidditch and how he promised to keep her safe. Ginny listened to everything Hermione said without interrupting her, but she squealed when Hermione finished explaining the details of the dream she had had about Fred.
"Hermione, do you like him?"
"That's just it Ginny, I do. But I have absolutely no idea if he likes me back; I've liked him ever since my first year at Hogwarts but I never showed or said that I did because I thought it would ware off sooner or later, but it didn't. Ginny, what am I supposed to do?" Ginny thought long and hard about how she could help her friend.
"If everything you told me about what Fred did for you was true, then I'm sure he likes you and recognizes you more then just one of my and Ron's best friends. I don't know if he likes you the way you like him, but just let things happen on their own accord. It is possible he may like you. You shouldn't fight your feelings about him." This seemed to cheer Hermione up a bit.
"Thanks, Ginny."
"What are friends for, right?"
"Right. Oh, and Ginny, please don't mention any of this to anyone."
"I won't, I promise."
-- --
"Did I say something wrong?" said a confused Bill as Hermione and Ginny left the room; nobody answered him "so I guess you two are not together?" Fred shook his head and sat down.
"Sometimes I wish we were." Fred said quietly, more to himself, but everyone heard him.
"Together?"
Fred nodded to answer. "George?"
"Yeah, Fred?" said George as he sat down beside Fred.
"Do you remember that time when I zoned out so long, when you wanted to ask me why and I told you it wasn't the right time?"
"Is now the right time?"
"Yes. And to answer your original question, I was thinking about Hermione."
"Why didn't you tell me?" George asked, but he wasn't angry or hurt.
"I thought you would laugh or something."
"Fred, maybe you should start from the beginning, for our sake." Charlie suggested. Harry, Ron and Bill nodded in agreement.
"Ok." He took a deep breath and talked about the afternoon he had spent with Hermione in Hogsmead; the dream he had about her ("that's the real reason why I yelled that one morning" he added to George); the time he sat out during Exploding Snap when she didn't want to join; how he secretly hoped that she would come to the Burrow for the holidays; the time he interrupted her singing and was thinking about a certain line of the song ("as if she was singing about me."); the time when they played Quidditch and he wanted to share his broom with her and how she had trusted him right away; and all the times he mentally kicked himself in the head every time he thought about her. When he was done confessing all of this, he was relieved that no one had laughed at him.
"How long have you liked her?" Harry asked.
"Ever since my third year. But I never told anyone, not even George."
"We've noticed." Ron said sarcastically.
"What should I do?"
"You should tell her." Bill and Charlie said at the same time.
"What if she doesn't like me the way I like her?"
"You won't know until you tell her." Replied George "The rest of us have been down this road before, bro. This is exactly how we felt, but we plucked up the courage to tell the ones we liked and it all turned out good."
"We're willing to help." Bill said. This raised Fred's spirits.
"You are?"
"Only if you really want her."
"Of course I do. But do you think I have a chance with her?"
"Of course you have a chance with her. She even said it was possible." Said Charlie.
"But she said it was highly unlikely." Fred replied.
"At least she didn't say it was completely unlikely." Harry pointed out.
"You're right Harry!" Fred exclaimed. "But, how can you guys help me?"
"Have you forgotten where we're going tomorrow?" said Bill.
"Hogsmead… Of course!"
"It would be the perfect place to tell her how you feel." Ron said.
"We should plan this out carefully." Charlie said "but not here and definitely not now, we'll plan everything tonight, we'll be sharing a room anyway." A few minutes later, Mr. Weasley came into the room and said that dinner was ready.
"Could one of you call the girls?"
"I'll do it." Said Fred right away, everyone smiled at him as he bounded up the stairs.
-- --
There was a knock on the door. Fred poked his head into the room and smiled. "Not interrupting anything am I?"
"No, Fred." Replied Ginny.
"Why?" said Hermione.
"Its dinner time." Replied Fred. All three of them went down the stairs into the kitchen. Ginny sat down beside Harry, so Fred and Hermione had to sit beside each other (because there were only two seats left). They all started loading their plates with food and began to eat.
"Don't forget that we're going to Hogsmead tomorrow morning, so I want all of you to go to bed early." Said Mrs. Weasley.
"Oh, mom, I invited Alicia to come, and Ron's invited Lavender, is that ok?" George said. "We're meeting them at Hogsmead."
"Yes, dear, it's ok."
"How long are we going to be there?" Bill asked. Mrs. Weasley said that they were going to be there all morning. After they finished eating, they all made their way upstairs to get ready for bed.
-- --
"Ok, planning time." Said Fred as he, George, Bill and Charlie reached their room and lay down on their beds. Bill had put a Silencing Charm around the door so they couldn't be overheard.
"A plan to make your dream come true, literally." Said Charlie.
"Ok" Bill began "since were going to be there all morning, and we're probably going to have lunch there as well, I think we should do all our shopping first. When we're all done shopping, we all meet up at the Three Broomsticks, including Ginny and Hermione."
"And then, you convince Hermione to take a walk with you. That should be easy enough, considering Alicia and Lavender will be coming." Said George "We'd be all paired up. And after that, it would all be up to you."
"But what about mom and dad?"
"We'll distract them enough, don't worry about that." Charlie replied confidently. "We'll tell Harry and Ron the plan tomorrow morning."
"Thanks guys, you're the best." Said Fred.
"You'll repay us somehow." joked George.
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limegirl62: Sorry, but be patient. Its going to happen.
rhiannon-shaxington: Thanks. Don't worry, it will happen in the next chapter.
Sakura-jr17: I had to let them make up first, hope you understand. Sorry if you didn't like my last chapter.
Everyone else: Thanks! you guys are the best, hope you enjoyed this chapter. And I'm sorry if some of you think that I'm taking forever to get Fred and Hermione together, but trust me, I know what I'm doing.