A/N- I'm soooo sorry for not updating in just about forever. There is no excuse for me. But what matters is that I'm back now, and will be updating as often as I can. Please R/R!! If you have any requests, feel free to make them. The requested alternate chapter will be coming eventually, but not till I get to the part where it fits in. So anyway, keep reading!

A/N- If you read Not Another Karaoke Contest, know that I will also be updating that soon. As far as When Canon Met Fanon goes, I'm going to do my best so we'll see what happens. R/R!

"Okay, so how do we get in again?" Angelina asked Fred once they had made their way out of the Great Hall and into the kitchens. They were lucky. Had they left much later, Dumbledore would probably have stopped them. "Duh, you tickle the pear," Fred grinned, lightly running his fingers over it in the painting of the fruit bowl.

The painting swung open, and Fred, George, Angelina, and Alicia were able to get right through. Immediately, a group of house-elves came jogging up to them, ready to serve. The whole kitchen staff was used to the frequent visits of the Weasley twins. "How is we being of service to you today?" Dobby asked, bowing, "You is wanting to usual sweets?"

Fred shook his head. "No, no thanks Dobby. Not tonight. Actually, could we just borrow a bottle or two of rum? Preferably strong rum?" he asked nonchalantly, pretending that there was nothing unusual about the request.

Dobby was a little surprised, but didn't question. It wasn't his place, and he knew it. He liked freedom, but he was a house-elf at heart, and lived to serve. Quickly, he ran around the corner. When he returned, he held in his hands two bottles of Hogwarts finest rum.

"Thank you very much," Angelina said, taking them out of the elf's hand. "We is happy to serve, as always," Dobby said, bowing again, "You is holding in your hands tow bottles of Hogwarts best rum. Make sure it is used responsibly, as it is very strong. Make sure it is used in very small quantities.

"Don't worry about us, Dobby," George said, winking, "We couldn't get any more responsible if we tried." Dobby wasn't sure he believed him, and he certainly didn't think that giving them rum was in anyone's best interest, but he had no real choice.

"Is you sure you isn't wanting some éclairs?" Dobby asked as the foursome turned to leave. Angelina and Alicia were all set to say "no thanks" and go back to the Great hall to put their plan into action. But Fred and George had stronger sweet teeth.

"We'd love some, Dobby!" Fred said, taking an éclair for each hand. George did the same. Angelina gave Fred a look that showed that she thought it was unnecessary to take advantage of the house-elf hospitality. However, Fred noticed that she didn't say no when Dobby offered her an éclair.

After Alicia had thanked Dobby when she saw that Fred and George hadn't, the four of them left the kitchen. "That went well," Fred commented on their way back to the dance, "I was sure Dobby wasn't going to give us the rum, with us being underage and all." Angelina arched an eyebrow.

"Well can you really blame him? If I was in his position you would be the last person I would trust with two bottles of strong rum," she said, laughing. Fred couldn't blame her. He didn't think he would even have given himself the rum. Of course, it wasn't as if he was planning on drinking it all. They were going to use it to prank Lupin. But if there was a little left over, well, who knew what would happen.

Meanwhile, in the Gryffindor boy's dorm, two more Quidditch players were occupying themselves, happy that they had managed to leave the Great Hall before Dumbledore had decided not to allow it. "Quidditch robes have never looked so sexy," Katie murmured, fingering the silky scarlet fabric of Oliver's uniform as he tied it and sat back down on his bed.

"Thank you," Oliver said, reluctantly breaking his gaze with Katie to admire his own robes, "Yours aren't too bad either." Katie grinned. She had always loved the color red. It looked good on her, but she couldn't help liking it even better on Oliver.

"They only look good on me because the Quidditch captain gets so intense about his game that we end up practicing for hours," she said, winking. Oliver ran his fingers through his hair. "You know you love practice," he grinned.

"Of course I do," Katie said, grabbing his hand, "Because it means when I play the game, I play better." Oliver raised his eyebrows. "You don't need practice, though. You're the best Quidditch player I've ever seen," he admitted, using his free hand to fiddle with the loose bow on the side of her robe.

"Oh no," she protested, looking into his eyes, "You're far better." Oliver shook his head. "There's only one way to settle this," he said simply. "Oh, and what's that?" Katie asked playfully. Oliver looked at her, eyes glinting. "We'll just have to play another round of Quidditch," he said mischievously, tugging on her scarlet robe.

Near the door, which Dumbledore was guarding carefully, Hermione still had her fingers crossed. Ron had no idea what he was doing. His brothers all had girlfriends, Ginny had Harry, and he still found it difficult to work up the courage to ask the girl he liked out. Hermione had, of course, given him good advice. He had expected no less from the smartest witch in his class. But it was up to him to use it, and he had no confidence and couldn't find good enough words.

"Hermione, have you seen Parvati Patil?" he asked hopefully. Hermione looked shocked. She certainly hadn't expected Ron to ask her, but Parvati was known to be extremely flirtatious to put it nicely. In all her honesty with herself, she was very disappointed in him.

"No I haven't Ron, sorry," she said regretfully, "She's probably around somewhere with Lavender and Seamus. You can go look for her if you want, but I think, um, I have some homework to do?" She would have said anything to prevent her from having to watch Ron ask Parvati to be his girlfriend.

Ron shook his head. "Ah, it's not worth it," he decided, "I was just going to ask her some advice, considering she's had a lot of experience with guys, but it's probably better to just try myself. Hermione, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Hermione looked up, suddenly hopeful. She remembered that those words had come directly from her suggestion hardly any time at all ago. She hardly dared to believe it when Ron reached out, almost as if someone was pulling his arm toward her, and took her hand, while looking into her eyes. Ron had never known Hermione's eyes to be such a sparkling blue before.

"Hermione," he began, so nervous that he felt as if at any moment he could start belching up slugs, "I've been really stupid. Everybody else knew it except me, and I just realized it now, thinking about my overly affectionate family. And I didn't have a love life, you know, er, so I just thought of it. Anyway Hermione, the point is that I like you. Erm, I like you a lot. So do you maybe, er, want to be my girlfriend?"

Hermione's eyes widened. She looked down at her hand in Ron's to make sure she hadn't imagined what had just happened. "Ron, I cannot believe you just took my advice for me," she said, blushing crimson and giggling.

Ron looked down at the floor. "It's okay if you don't want to," he said with embarrassment, "I mean, I just thought I'd ask, you know. It was worth a try, right? I'll just go, uh, find Harry and Ginny, hmm?"

"Don't go," Hermione protested, taking his other hand and pulling him closer to her, to both her own and his disbelief, "please. You're amazing, Ron, I was just shocked at how perfect that was. I—I'd love to be your girlfriend."

More shocked than he was when Percy almost gave Lucius Malfoy detention, Ron was at a loss for words. As much as he wanted to think that he totally deserved her, it was difficult. Hermione was so smart and pretty, and a great best friend. She was perfect, and he was, well, Ron Weasley, collector of hand-me-downs.

But that was no longer the case. Now he was Ron Weasley, boyfriend of the most amazing girl at Hogwarts. That was good enough for him. Still at a loss for words, he decided to follow Hermione's advice completely. He didn't really dare, but everything had so far gone well.

"Can I kiss you?" he asked, hoping that in spite of all her logic and sensibility she would say yes. It was a difficult decision for the levelheaded witch. On one hand, they were surrounded by people, and he had just asked her out. On the other hand, no one was really looking at them, and she really wanted to kiss him.

"Okay," she said, following her heart over her brain for one of the first times in her life. Ron was very surprised. Even with all of his hoping, he had never expected her to agree. Only a little awkwardly, he leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. Afraid she would slap him if he attempted to snog her, he started to pull away.

His biggest surprise that night so far was the fact that she pulled him back and really snogged him. "Bloody hell," Ron said dazedly when they broke apart, "That was brilliant!"

Hermione smiled shyly as Ron looked at her in wonder. "Wow," he commented, "You're even crazier than I thought." "I'm going to take that as a compliment, I think," she said, laughing, "So thank you."

That very moment, Professor Dumbledore stepped away from his post at the door and tapped Hermione on the shoulder. He had of course seen the whole thing. As usual, he was in the right place at the right time. "Ten points to Gryffindor," he said, chuckling, "I always knew that beneath the books there was a babe just waiting to break through. Ron, you finally got lucky. Have fun, you two."

With that, he walked back to his post at the door, sniggering to himself. "That man is nuts. Completely bonkers," Ron laughed. Hermione agreed, but she did like the way he had referred to her as a babe. That, combined with the fact that she now had Ron as her boyfriend and she had just snogged him, made her feel better than if she had gotten 112% on all of her exams.

"Do you want to dance?" she asked, more confident than ever. Ron nodded. "Okay," he said, "but I should warn you, I'm an awful dancer." Hermione doubted it. He wouldn't have agreed if he had been completely unfortunate at dancing. "Don't worry about it," she said, smiling as she led Ron out to the dance floor.

At the same time, Draco, Harry, and Ginny were making their way over to Hermione and Ron. They, of course, had no idea what had just happened. The going was extremely slow though, because the crowd in the Great Hall but off the dance floor was now unusually large. "What do you say we stop pushing through this crowd for a while and have a few strawberries?" Draco asked, making it more of a demand than a request as he spotted one of his favorite foods at one of the refreshment tables that lined the walls.

"If it's necessary," Harry relented, very tired of Draco and wishing that he and Ginny could be alone and for once not have to worry about their actions affecting everyone around them. "It's necessary," Draco smirked, popping a strawberry into his mouth, "Now while I'm eating, why don't you fill me in on what exactly you have planned."

Ginny shook her head. She had never met anyone more spoiled and arrogant than Draco. It was amazing that he got away with everything he did. It was even more amazing that they were letting him get away with it all, and spending their dance time with him, trying to fix Ron and Hermione up. What had ever possessed her to suggest involving Draco, she didn't know. She did know, though, that Ron and Hermione were very lucky to have friends like them.

"Like I explained before, all you have to do is push Ron's buttons while acting like you don't entirely hate Hermione. Ron will be inspired not only by your criticism, but by the fact that if he waits to ask her out officially, then he has a chance of losing her to you. It's very easy and not at all painful, if you just follow the plan," she said, laying it out as simply as she could for him.

Draco rolled his eyes. "If I were trying to fix them up, I personally would use blackmail. As they are Weasley and Granger, I'm sure they each have plenty of it," he drawled.

"You're not trying to fix them up; we are," Harry said shortly, "And to be honest, I'm tired of wasting time with you. So if you wouldn't mind, stop eating strawberries and stick to the plan."

If Draco hadn't been looking forward to making Ginny and Harry pay him back for this, he would have walked away right then. But he knew he could think of something that would make them squirm more than many curses as payback. Taking one last strawberry, he allowed them to lead him to where they had left Ron and Hermione, standing by the door.

"They're gone!" Ginny exclaimed, looking around the spot with no success. "That's strange," Harry said, "We couldn't have been gone more than ten minutes." Draco glared at them. "If this was some kind of pointless joke, my father will be hearing about it," he spat. Neither Harry nor Ginny was scared in the least.

"If I were you, I'd try the dance floor," Professor Dumbledore said from nearby, eyes twinkling, "You might be surprised at what you find."

Harry, Ginny, and Draco all looked at him in confusion. Considering that the Headmaster was rarely wrong though, the three of them went to look on the crowded dance floor. Not too far away from them, they spotted Hermione and Ron dancing. Harry would have assumed it was on a dare, but Fred and George were nowhere to be seen, and the two of them were dancing a little too closely for a simple challenge.

"I could be wrong, but judging from the looks on both their faces, I don't think my work is needed anymore," Draco commented, catching what he believed to be a lovesick look in Weasley's eyes.

"As much as I want to know what could have happened in the ten minutes we were gone, I think it's only fair not to bother them now that they finally seem to be together," Ginny said, so happy for the two of them.

"We could always ask Professor Dumbledore," Harry suggested, "He knows everything; I'm sure he'd know this." The Headmaster winked at him. "I wouldn't want to spoil their good news," he said briefly.

Ginny smiled at Harry. "Well if the Ron and Hermione problem is all worked out, do you want to do something else?" she asked, thinking that they could finally spend some time alone together. Harry agreed instantly.

"Don't think this means you don't owe me," Draco informed them coolly. It wasn't fair at all, but Harry and Ginny had expected no less from the Slytherin. "I think I hear Pansy calling you, Malfoy," Harry lied, motioning to where he saw Draco's date drinking a Butterbeer on the other side of the Hall.

"Good point. I should make sure we spend a little quality time together, away from my parents," he decided, strolling away, "I wonder if the Astronomy Tower is empty."

Harry took Ginny's hand as soon as Malfoy had walked away. "I'm so glad Ron finally realized that he and Hermione are perfect for each other," he said, happy for his best friend. "Me too," Ginny said, "I'm sure he hated being the only one without a girlfriend, too. Especially with Fred and George snogging Angelina and Alicia every chance they got."

"Hey, speaking of them, I wonder where they went. I haven't seen them since the spell got taken off," Harry realized, tearing his eyes off Ginny to look around for the twins.

"Oh boy," Ginny said, "Neither have I. And I'm not sure I want to know what they're doing." Harry agreed. Fred and George were hilarious, but he wasn't quite sure he wanted to see what they were up too. "If they're planning a prank though, they're going to have some competition," Harry pointed out, "I've never seen Sirius so uncontrollable. I don't know how long he's planning on listening to Lupin for. It's going to be interesting."