Many many thanks to;
MaronTodai,
93 Diagon Alley,
SaruDM,
echizenochi,
CinziaTwut,
LeeArt,
nlech16,
gimarkley2013,
LyndahJune,
Weasley-Is-Our-King26,
For leaving reviews!
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CHAPTER 41.
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"You sent an invite to Nikita. In Romania." Hermione breathed, not questioningly but as if confirming what she had just witnessed.
Fred grinned again and nodded.
Hermione kept looking back and forth between Fred and George and she saw a glimpse of Hogwarts famous pranksters.
Even then, anyone who crossed the twins never made it without being the butt of some pranks, albeit harmless ones.
She shook her head disbelievingly and said, "Isn't this taking it a bit too far? I mean pretending to like Charlie is one thing, but actually calling his old girlfriend to witness her boyfriend with his pretend new girlfriend is a bit much. And besides, this is Ginny's master plan. Poor Charlie is just a pawn."
"It's poor Charlie now eh?" Fred teased.
Hermione blushed and said, "You know what I mean."
"Yes Mione dear. We do. But trust me. It's going to be fun. We won't jeopardise Charlie's relationship with Nikita at all. Don't worry." George promised.
"What do you mean by that? And it's really difficult to trust you and not to worry when you'll are grinning like scheming fools and I don't know what is being planned. I want in!" She pouted.
Fred and George laughed and Fred came over and affectionately kissed her forehead.
"I know why you love her now, mate." George laughed.
"Didn't I tell you? She needs to know everything. Then she'll analyse and overanalyse and play out all the scenarios possible with every permutation and combination. Then we'll prepare a fair bit and only then jump into the battlefield." Fred answered.
Hermione wrinkled her nose and said, "I don't know if that's a compliment or you're making fun of me Weasley."
"Oh, it's a bit of both love." He said and prepared to flee if Hermione planned on attacking him.
She just did the mature thing and stuck her tongue out at him as George continued to chuckle and Fred explained to her their plan.
After listening to a fair bit, she had to admit, she was impressed.
She could have never imagined that something so trivial could be blown so much out of proportion. It probably would completely backfire, and everyone would come to know that Hermione and Fred were together and even Charlie and Nikita were. But it would be worth it.
And Ron and Luna were also returning. So it would all be perfect.
The plan was to hold a dinner party the night before Charlie left for Romania. And only all the siblings and their better halves would be invited.
No point in having children running about to add to the mess that was eventually going to happen. And definitely no point in having Mrs. Weasley over. She really did not need to know of the dubious dynamics that were taking place behind her back.
Besides, Charlie had specifically kept the news of his girlfriend from their mum. The twins didn't want to cause actual damage by revealing that.
So, George would hold a dinner at his flat, tomorrow, where Charlie and his new girlfriend would make their public appearance in front of his old girlfriend (though no one would know that right now).
Nikita meanwhile was supposed to reach, if she accepted the invite, just a few hours before the party, where her role would be explained to her promptly.
All three of them hoped that Charlie's girlfriend was sporting enough to handle the Weasleys' immature antics and join in the fun.
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"I don't know why I even listened you to you in the first place! It's all a mess now. They've fought and it's all because of us Ginevra Weasley Potter" Charlie yelled.
Ginny stood at the kitchen counter, with her fingers pressed on her temple.
Her head was splitting, partly because Charlie refused to adopt a decent decibel and partly because she was wondering if what Charlie had said was the truth.
"She said she would love to go out with me! Go out with me! Merlin help me if I'm listening to you ever again. You can cast a sonorous and announce to the whole world about Nikita for all I care!" He yelled again and disapparated.
Ginny sighed. And played over what Charlie had just told her in her head again.
It was just not possible. How could it be? Hermione was not someone who jumped from one boyfriend to the other.
Hell! It took Luna and her long enough to even think of seeing a guy and now in the span of a week she was seeing two!
Of course Ginny was to blame but still nothing seemed to add up. Especially the fight between Hermione and Fred.
They had seemed so much in love! What could have caused them to fight so much to the point of a break up? Did Fred do something childish? Or was it because of Charlie?
Merlin! What if Charlie was right? What if because of Charlie, Fred got jealous and fought with Hermione and caused the break up?
The throbbing in her temple continued while she kept going through different scenarios.
Her confusion only increased when she received an owl from George about dinner tomorrow night. Surely Fred had not told him about his break up with Hermione because of Charlie, because if he had, she doubted that he would be throwing a party.
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"Oh Ginny! How are you? Have I told you lately how much I adore you?" Hermione gushed as Ginny entered George's flat through the floo.
Before Ginny could even react, Hermione had her wrapped into a tight hug and she could practically see the excitement bounce off from Hermione.
Ginny still looked confused as a terribly bubbly Hermione ushered her forcefully onto the balcony adjoining George's flat, where no one was standing, so they could have some privacy.
"I love you Ginny Potter! You were right. So right. Remind me to listen to you always henceforth, okay?" Hermione repeated.
"Calm down Hermione. Why the sudden love?" Ginny asked cautiously.
This was definitely not the disposition she expected Hermione to be in when she would meet her.
She looked far from forlorn and surely the break up had not affected her much.
"I'm so glad you called Charlie over for dinner the other night. I finally.."
"Ginny! Where are you?" Harry's voice boomed from somewhere inside the flat.
"A moment Harry!" Ginny yelled.
She turned to look towards Hermione.
Her smile didn't falter as she said, "go on. See what hubby dear needs you for. And come back straight here."
Ginny tried to gather her wits and nodded as she went out to look for Harry.
Hermione smirked and chuckled and went out to look for Fred.
She caught his eye and nodded as she joined him at the other end of the room.
They kept a lookout for Ginny and when they did see her make her way to the balcony, they quickly positioned themselves in direct sight from the balcony.
Ginny seemed to turn about, making sure Hermione was indeed not there and as she looked about, she happened to see her huddled in the opposite corner, talking to Fred.
Wait, they were gesticulating too much to have a normal conversation and they seemed to both be frowning. Fred looked angry for a bit and Hermione had a resigned expression over her face.
Hermione tried touching his arm and motioning him to calm down, but Fred jerked his arm away from her touch and glared at her. She finally glared back, shook her head and left.
Ginny looked about wondering if anyone else had noticed this exchange. But everyone seemed to gather around George's new television, which no doubt Hermione must've introduced him to.
Ginny began to worry even more now. Maybe Charlie was right. They probably had had a fight because of him and now she felt awful.
Hermione returned to the balcony instantly and flashed her a bright smile.
Ginny wondered how her demeanour was still happy in spite of the altercation she had just witnessed.
Ginny forced a smile and asked her, "what did you want to talk to me about Hermione?"
"Oh yes. Firstly, I want to thank you. You were right. I do need to get out and meet more people. Secondly, I may not need to meet new people anymore, at least not in that sense." She said shyly.
Ginny narrowed her eyes, probably knowing where this was all leading to but still terrified of hearing it.
"You've found someone!" Ginny whispered, not questioningly but as if trying to convince herself.
"Yes Ginny. And it's all thanks to you. If you had not forced me to think about Charlie..." She trailed off.
Merlin! Charlie! Now because of her meddling, she had unknowingly hurt Fred, Hermione and Charlie. Of course Charlie did not return Hermione's feelings. And when Hermione would learn of that, she would be crushed. Especially after leaving Fred for Charlie.
What a mess had she created! Harry often told her to mind her own business and she really wished she would have taken his advice.
Hermione continued prattling, seemingly unmindful of Ginny's not so thrilled expression.
"He's such a gentleman Ginny. Who knew someone who could barely entertain anything but dragons could treat a lady so well. Do you know he took me to Paris for our first date? And yesterday when we met again in the evening, oh Ginny. What can I say! I know he's your brother, but I swear if I wasn't against a wall, I would have definitely buckled over and fallen when he kissed me." Hermione blushed as she said that.
That snapped Ginny out of her mind.
What? Charlie had kissed her? When? And more importantly why? He was only pretending and he already had a girlfriend! So why did he go ahead and make it more complicated by kissing her? And why did he not tell her?
Oh yes. Of course. They weren't speaking. Rather Charlie was not speaking with her. After leaving her house in the afternoon, he had not spoken a word to her. So probably Hermione was saying the truth.
And as if Charlie would tell her even if he had kissed Hermione.
"Oh Ginny! His hands are so rough, obviously from all the dragon handling and all, but when they touch mine or make contact with my skin, the friction is absolutely unbearable! I never thought before that I'd have a thing for rough hands." Hermione gushed.
Ginny looked like she was going to hurl and Hermione finally noticed her discomfort.
"Oh I'm so sorry Gin. That's maybe a mental picture you don't require." She said sheepishly.
"Certainly not." Ginny replied, in a comically strained voice.
Hermione tried her best not to burst out laughing right there.
"Okay then. I shall not bore you with more gory details about how incredibly and unbelievably close we've become in such a short span of time. I can't believe I even let it happen you know," Hermione said shyly, looking at her feet, not meeting Ginny's gaze.
What happened? Ginny's mind screamed. She was dying to know but she was turning green every second and she did not need to hear about the physical prowess of her cheating brother.
Oh Charlie! What did you do? This was not in the plan! She yelled mentally. Only if he had not gone away in a huff and was talking to her, she could confirm this. But he had refused to even look at her when she had entered.
Ginny sighed, looking thoroughly sickened with embarrassment and guilt.
"Okay. Now you know! I had to thank you! You played cupid after all! And finally the arrow hit the mark!" Hermione said with an absurd amount of enthusiasm before she left the balcony, mumbling something about looking for her Char!
Since when did Hermione give people nicknames? For a moment there, she wondered if Hermione was pulling her leg. But then again, she and Fred having that fight could have caused Hermione to rebound on Charlie. Or maybe she was only pretending to like Charlie to make Fred jealous. But that was not like something she would would never hurt Charlie's or anyone's feelings that way.
She needed to get away and think a bit clearly for a while.
Ginny sighed and left the balcony, heading straight for some much needed firewhiskey.
Hermione was happily perched on Charlie's arm, although Charlie didn't look as excited as her. He smiled about but kept shifting about nervously.
Hermione often whispered something or the other in his ear and every time she did that, Ginny thought she was going to kiss Charlie and automatically Charlie's and her eyes would go toward Fred, who was busy nursing one glass after the other, barely mingling.
Ginny couldn't take this any longer. She was just about to extricate Charlie from Hermione's grip and demand some explanations when a loud cheer went about the room and she saw that Ron and Luna had returned.
A tall, beautiful, olive skinned brunette stood a few paces behind them.
Everyone hugged the newlyweds and before they could ask how they were, Ron spoke up.
"Hello everyone! It's bloody good to see you all. We found this pretty lady here outside www looking for Charlie. So we brought her here since everyone would be here. This is Nikita." Ron said.
Ginny gasped and turned to look at Charlie. His face had lost all colour and Hermione looked confused.
Ginny turned to look at Nikita again, whose gaze seemed to be fixed at the interwoven arms of Charlie and Hermione, a definite amount of hostility oozing from her.
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*big evil cackle* (couldn't really spell it)
so what do you think?
I have to thank SaruDM, who very kindly supplied to me the idea of having Hermione discuss the nauseating details of her relationship with Charlie with Ginny. It was about time that Ginny frets a little too! So this and the added stress of driving a wedge between Fred and Hermione should be enough to keep Ginny confused and guilty for a while! Thanks a lot for the idea again SaruDM! I really appreciate you helping me out!
Well now Nikita's in the picture!
And not only is Charlie terrified but even Ginny!
I hope you've enjoyed this chapter!
Thanks for reading!
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