Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is just a figment of my imagination
Chapter three: Back at the Burrow"So we're really sure about this."
"Yup. They can't expect to get away with this."
"Don't you think they'll mind?"
"Fred, of course they'll mind. Isn't that the whole point? They want us to believe they're really together? Like anyone's going to believe that after all this time. Well, no one but mum and the rest of our family. They're trying to pull a prank on us. It's up to us to make sure we disappoint them. We need to strike back with subtlety, as if we believe it's true. They made us wait this long."
Fred bit his lip. "But it's christmas. We shouldn't upset them too much. At least go a little easy on them for mum's sake."
George laughed. "Mum'll be fine with it. She'll be too busy gloating over the fact that her youngest son brought home a girlfriend. Especially this girlfriend. She won't notice a little teasing."
Fred grinned. "Alright then, let's do it."
The two boys walked out of their bedroom, feeling more than satisfied they had come to an agreement about this 'joke'. But when they passed their sister's room, George's smile faltered. He halted.
"...Is she still...?"
Fred nodded gloomily. "She won't come out. Not even on days like this."
"Perhaps she'll come down for dinner today..."
Fred shook his head defeatedly. "George, you've seen just as much of her as I have. You know she won't come down."
"But she's been up there ever since it happened! It's almost as if she's punishing herself for surviving. It's been so long...can't she manage to get over it? We all know how horrible it was, but she can't spend the rest of her life locked up in her room because of what happened."
George let out a loud sigh.
"You know..." Fred said hesitantly. "Perhaps she heard Hermione's coming over...perhaps that's why she's locked the door this time too. Those two didn't part on a good footing, did they."
"I just want my sister to get her life back, whatever reason this has."
Fred watched his brother turn away from the door. Seeing George this helpless reminded him of how helpless and desperate he felt himself. A sudden loud crash made both of them look up. An almost evil grin took the place of their serious frowns.
"That'll be the happy 'couple'." George said.
Fred snorted. "They argued so much when they were still at school...I wonder how bad it is now. I'm not sure that happy is the right word."
George laughed and hasted down the stairs, followed closely by Fred. When they had reached the ground floor they were already too late to be the first ones to greet Ron and Hermione. Hermione was being hugged fondly by their mother while Ron was trying to upturn the suitcase in the fireplace.
"Hermione!" the twins said simultaneously, striding forward to pull her into an excruciatingly tight hug, pressing all the air from her lungs.
"Fred, George...so good to see you." she said, gasping for air when they had released her.
"Quite a nice surprise to see you here." George said with a wink.
Hermione giggled and noticed him eyeing Ron with a smirk. She could see what Ron had meant by saying the family would probably act a bit funny. Suddenly she felt the urge to play along, just as Ron had done.
"Oh, yes." She said quickly. "I missed you all so much. So when Ron asked me to come over, how could I resist?"
"Don't you mean you missed darling Ron so much?" Fred asked with a grin.
Hermione chuckled her tongue and tossed her hair over her shoulder the way she had seen Vivian Kramer do.
"If that's what you want to make of it..." she said with a smirk.
Then she turned around and walked away into the kitchen. Ron had to bite his lip to make sure he wouldn't laugh. Hermione was playing along with the joke already and, to be honest, he hadn't expected her to do this well.
He followed her into the kitchen, leaving his brothers behind without giving them time to think of a retort. Fred and George stared at each other.
"Is it me...or was that an attempted flirt just now?" Fred asked incredulously.
"Nah, man...she wasn't flirting, she was toying with us!" George said, sounding equally astounded.
"Well...she certainly changed then, didn't she..."
"I can tell you this, though." George added. "If it had been a flirt, it was a damn good one."
Fred suddenly slapped the back of his brother's head. "You git! As long as they don't tell us whether this relationship of theirs is a joke or not, we believe what they say! She's here with Ron, remember. Hands off."
"No, don't get me wrong. I was saying 'if'. She's a good actress, that's all."
"Yeah," Fred chuckled. "she managed to get your hormones up and running again. Admit it George, we've just let her win the first fight."
George grinned evilly. "Even more reason to get back at her. From now on, no mercy. We're going to be as annoying as we can muster till we're satisfied with our revenge."
His grin widened even more. Hermione had changed indeed. And not just her sense of humour, he thought. And it wasn't a change for the worse.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Owl post! George, get it will you..." mrs. Weasley said as she hovered above a pan of scrambled eggs.
George reached out his hand and grabbed Errol in mid-flight before he could crash into the sink.
"There's something for Hermione...Oh, Fred! Something for us, too!"
Fred looked up from his porridge. "For the shop?"
"I think so...It's got an official stamp and lable on it and everything...Might be important."
"Let's go upstairs, then. Jokeshop business is strictly top-secret." Fred laughed and reached out to grab the letter from George.
A soft creaking from the doorway made him stop. He looked up to see the small, thin figure of his sister, clad in her nighty and bathrobe.
"Ginny..."
Her mother rushed forward and pushed her down into a chair.
"Are you hungry?" she asked.
Ginny said nothing. George quietly placed a plate in front of her and took the pan of scrambled eggs from his mother to ladle some onto it.
"...I heard Hermione's here...I heard Fred and George talk about her yesterday." She said quietly. "And she came to my door last night. I didn't know she would be here...Why didn't anyone tell me?"
"We- we thought you wouldn't want to know." Mrs. Weasley said confusedly.
"She wanted to talk to me, but I ignored her. I ignored her again, just like I did after- Do you think she's mad at me? I remember every word she said that day...she was angry then."
Mrs. Weasley shook her head. "Why would Hermione be mad at you, dear. She understands."
"Exactly! She understands! She knows how I feel and I ignored her all over again! I wanted to talk to her...I needed to...She knows...she understands. But I couldn't, last night...I don't know whether she'll want to now..."
Her shoulders began to shake.
"I'm sorry." She whispered. "I'll just go back upstairs."
"Wait!" Fred said suddenly. "You want to talk to her? Give her this! It came for her today and then you can talk to her. She feels the same pain you do, you know. She misses Harry too."
Ginny looked at the letter he was holding out hesitantly. But when Fred smiled at her encouragingly, she stood up and left the kitchen without it. When they were sure she was out of earshot, they looked at each other confusedly.
"Ginny came down? Not just for food but to talk?" George wondered. "Why?"
"Perhaps she feels she needs to make up with Hermione...That arguement way back then was pretty intense."
"I think it's good Ron brought Hermione." Mrs. Weasley said. "And I don't mean just for Ginny. For himself too. I never thought I'd see either of them happy again after-"
She quickly hid her face in her apron to stifle a sob.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"So they really do think that you and me are, well, you know." She giggled. "I just can't see whatever gave them this idea, though I enjoy seeing them be this silly."
Ron shrugged as she strechted out on his bed. "I don't know. I suppose that it was obvious to them, somehow. In their eyes it was an accident waiting to happen."
"Just in their eyes, Ronald?" she asked bemused.
Ron chuckled.
"Alright, alright. In everyone's eyes." He admitted.
"Youknow that's not what I meant."
He grinned. "Yeah, I know. Well, if you're still dwelling on that, then it must have been something worth while to remember."
They laughed.
"Oh, that was ages ago. I still can't believe we actually ended up kissing each other." Hermione said, letting out a girlish giggle.
Ron pretended to be offended. "What? You think it was all a mistake? Something that should never have occurred? An accident?"
"No, that's what you said, remember?" Hermione hit him on his arm playfully. "You know what I meant, Ronald Weasley. Now stop being such a prat."
"Oh yes, I know what you meant. You can't believe it actually happened. You still can't believe you actually allowed me to place my arms around you like this..." he said, wrapping his arms around her waist with a scheeky grin. "and you can't believe it was you who brought your face closer to mine, like this..."
Hermione snorted with laughter as Ron started to make horrible smooching noises in the air.
"See!" he said triumphantly. "I know exactly what you mean."
Hermione leaned her head on his shoulder for a moment, trying to get her face straight. At exactly the same moment, the door to Ron's room opened. They looked up, still in each others arms, to see a slightly embarassed George staring at them.
He seemed to have forgotten the letter he was holding as his embarassement changed into a sneaky grin. He said nothing, turned around and dropped the letter before pulling the door closed behind him on his way out.
For a moment both Ron and Hermione looked at the door, at loss for words. Then they both burst out into a fit of laughter.
"That was bloody brilliant!" Ron managed to say between loud ha's.
Hermione had tears running down her face. "Oh, we've done it now! They're never going to believe we're just friends now!"
"Then why not make use of that?" Ron said, suddenly sobering up.
Hermione stared at him. "What do you mean? How?"
"Listen, they think that you are my girlfriend. That gives them reason enough to tease us until it drives us mad."
"So what do we do?"
"We're going to beat them at their own game."
She placed her hands on her hips. "And how, pray tell, are we going to beat the two best pranksters I know with a prank?"
"Ah..." Ron's voice faltered. "Yeah you've got a point there."
He sat back down on his bed again and leaned back on his elbows.
"How about confusing them? You invite another girl over, say, Tess...If she'd be willing to play this game. If we make this look as if I'm dating both of you, they'll lose it."
Hermione snorted again and raised her eyebrow. "And where would be the fun in it for me?"
"Heh, it was worth a shot." Ron said.
He let out a loud yawn and fell down on his back.
"Let's just wait, then. Let's see where this takes us. If we see an opening, we'll take it and try to do as much damage as we possibly can."
Hermione nodded. "I can live with that..."
She looked at the door unwillingly. What had that look been on George's face? He had certainly looked surprised and even satisfied for some reason. But had there also been something else? She shook her head.
"Listen, Ron. I'm heading down for breakfast."
He nodded. "I'll be right down. Tell mum to save me some sausages. Just going to brush my teeth first."
"See you in a few minutes."
She walked towards the door she had eyes suspiciously just a moment before. She noticed the letter on the floor and picked it up.
"What's that?" Ron asked, rummaging around in his closet.
"Oh...it's...from my boss."
It had the Andersson, Hoot & Kramer logo on the seal.
"Probably a copy of those papers I requested. Somehow Vivian Kramer suddenly felt obliged to actually be nice for a change." She said bitterly. "And all of that just because I'm spending my holiday with you."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Really?"
"Yes! There they were, at the point of kissing when I burst in. This isn't the joke we thought it was, Fred. We thought all of this was a joke of theirs. That they were pretending to be together so they could pull our leg. But it's not a joke! It really finally happened, Ron and Hermione really are-"
"George, calm down. You almost sound disgruntled that they are. We all saw this coming."
George shook his head. " I'm not disgruntled..."
Fred shrugged his shoulders and turned away. Somehow George's reaction felt unnatural to him. He took a deep breath.
"Well then, we should leave them alone." He said forcedly. "It was alright to try and stop them if it was a joke...but if they really are serious..."
"Fred..."
"No, don't get me wrong. I like to tease them just as much as you do. But it's been a long time since I've seen Ron happy, since he's had someone. Don't you agree that teasing them could, you know...ruin this somehow?"
"What, like putting too much pressure on them?" George asked
"Exactly." Fred said.
George looked pensive.
'Perhaps...that wouldn't even be that bad.' He thought slowly, careful not to utter those words out loud as he recalled the image of her, flicking her hair over her shoulder.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - -