My Brother's Girl

Ron Finds Out

Sitting nervously by the fire, Fred was grateful that the common room was empty tonight. Since Umbridge kept inventing new rules, most people went straight to their dorms. This meant hardly anyone was in the common room; which meant it should just be Fred and Ron.

Twirling his thumbs, Fred went over what to say. He had never felt like this before; all his crushes had made him feel strange - but never like this. Just the thought of Hermione caused his stomach to flip. Standing up, Fred started pacing whilst he waited for Ron to turn up.

Finally, Ron crashed through the door followed by Hermione and Harry. Avoiding eye contact with Hermione, Fred focused only on his brother. "Ron, I need to talk to you. Alone." Fred smiled slightly when he saw how worried Harry and Hermione looked. "Nothing to worry about. Just a brother-to-brother talk."

Hermione and Harry left with raised eyebrows. "Goodnight Ronald. Fred. Harry." Fred probably imagined it, but the right corner of Hermione's mouth twitched as she said his name.

"See you in the dormitory mate. Night Hermione, Fred." and with that, Fred and Ron were alone.

"Whats up Fred?" Ron asked, throwing himself on the seat by the fire, clearly oblivious to anything actually being wrong.

Deciding it was best to just be honest, Fred took a breath and replied "Do you like Hermione?"

Ron shot upright. "NO!" But as he said this, a scarlet glow appeared in his cheeks.

Sighing, Fred sat down on the sofa. "I'm serious."

Raising an eyebrow, Ron asked, "Why?"

Fred felt his cheeks start to warm up as he replied "I do."

"You do what?" Ron wasn't the best at understanding how people felt.

"Like Hermione. A lot." Fred waited for Ron's reaction. To his surprise, his brother didn't seem to care. "Alright then."

"So you'd be okay if I asked her out?"

"Sure why not. It's her choice who she dates." Fred let out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding. "Thank you."

Now Fred wasn't sure what to do; should the boys hug or shake hands? Wouldnt that make it seem like a business deal?

After a moment's of awkward silence, Ron stood up. "I'm going to go to bed. Night Fred." He patted his big brother's shoulder as he left. "Wait, I thought she said you got jealous when she was with Krum last year?" Fred said, standing up with Ron.

Shrugging, Ron simply replied "Its different with you,"

As he watched his brother disappear up the stairs, Fred felt instantly happier. Ron didn't like Hermione.

Now the only thing he had to do was...tell Hermione. Thinking about her made his chest feel tight; he had no idea how he was meant to ask her. Should he tell her in the Great Hall, over breakfast? Find out when the next Hogsmede trip was and ask her to join him? In public or private? Go to the library?

Fred had no idea how girls minds worked. All he knew was that he had the "green light" from Ron and now he had to figure out how to tell Hermione.

Sitting there, watching the flickering fire a smirk appeared on Fred's face; he knew exactly how to tell her.

Yawning, Fred decided it was time to go to bed. After all, his plan wouldn't work if he couldn't even keep his eyes open.

Entering his dormitory, Fred gave George a smiling nod and whispered to him his plan, trying to be careful not to wake Lee.

"Hope it works for you Freddie. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Georgie." Fred replied, laying down on his side and staring at the nights sky, clear from the window. This time tomorrow, Hermione Granger could be his girlfriend.

With that thought, Fred fell asleep with the largest smile on his face since his first time as beater on the Quidditch Team.