The Set-Up
Fred shoved George hard in the back forcing his twin to take an involuntary step forward. "Just do it!" Fred hissed.
"Why does it have to be me?" George asked back, leaning back against the hand that was still trying to push him toward the bushy haired figure seated in the corner of the room, immersed in a huge book.
"Because I have a girlfriend, and Tonks'd kick my butt from here to Egypt if she thought I was even thinking about it. Look," Fred whispered. "Do you want to listen to those two bicker all summer? If this works, they'll shut the hell up, and if it doesn't, you might get a bit of snogging out of it."
"There is that," George agreed.
"Good man! Now go get her. I'll make sure that Ron sees it all." Fred disappeared out of the drawing room at Grimmauld Place and spotted Ginny coming down the steps.
"Hey Fred," she said, hardly looking up from the novel she was reading as she walked.
"Hey." He answered. "Where's Ron?"
"In the kitchen, I think. I was just headed down there." She eyed Fred turning to peak into the drawing room, the door being ajar. "Why?"
"I need to get him up here so that he can watch George put the moves on Hermione," he said quietly.
"What?!" she hissed quietly, elbowing him aside to see George crouched down beside Hermione's chair, his head close to hers.
"Yeah," Fred said. "We've got to get Ron up here to see it, or he'll never make a move. That boy is as thick as the walls of Hogwarts!"
"Hmmm," Ginny said. "A set up? That just might work. I'll go send him up."
Fred grinned at her, knowing that he could count on Ginny to do a good job of it. He turned back to watch George work; talking quietly to Hermione as she smiled at him and nodded as she listened to what he had to say. It didn't take long for Ron's footsteps to be heard pounding up the steps from the basement kitchen, and when he emerged on the landing his expression was one of mingled anger and panic. Ginny followed at a more sedate pace, not willing to miss out on the scene to come.
"What's going on?" Ron asked, slightly out of breath.
"George is asking Hermione," Fred said, peaking back in the crack of the door.
"Asking her what?" Ron demanded sharply.
Fred just looked over his shoulder at his younger brother with an expression that plainly said, "You're an idiot." He stepped aside and gestured for Ron to have a look for himself.
Ron looked into the drawing room and heard Hermione's soft laugh, and spotted her sitting in a deep armchair with a thick book open in her lap, but her attention was on George, who was perched on an ottoman beside her chair, and their heads were close together. He could feel his blood begin to boil as George took one of her hands in his and pushed a lock of Hermione's hair back behind her ear with the other. Fred and Ginny watched him from the hallway, trying to hide their amused expressions at his ramrod straight back and rising color. Ginny reached over and grabbed Fred's hand, squeezing hard as Ron looked wildly over his shoulder at them.
"Why would he do that?" Ran asked angrily. "He knows she's mine!"
Fred and Ginny raised their eyebrows at him. "Does she know that?" Fred asked slyly. "George just figured if you were never going to make a move, then she was fair game."
"We'll just see about this!" Ron's temper carried himinto the drawing room, without any other thought than to halt his brother's advances on Hermione.
He was breathing heavily, and his face was red with anger as the two of them calmly looked up at him, not so much as moving an inch away from each other. "Get away from her, George!" he said heedlessly, "You know that I…."
"That you what, Ron?" Hermione asked softly.
"That I…" he seemed at a loss for words as he realized that he hadn't thought this through. He looked hard at George, over to Hermione, and then at their close proximity to each other. He made up his mind in an instant and swallowed hard before saying, "That I fancy her."
"Do you, Ron?" Hermione asked with a smile. "Do you really?"
He nodded uncertainly and just stood there awkwardly as everyone stared at him.
"I told you it would work," George announced suddenly, standing up. Hermione nodded with a mischievous grin at him, then looked back at Ron, her eyes twinkling. George leaned down and kissed Hermione on the cheek before walking past Ron and saying, "I'll just leave you to work out the details, then."
He walked out of the room and shut the door behind him, leaving Ron and Hermione alone together.
