Harry Potter AUS

Day 4; Ron Weasley; The Twins' Trap

     The Burrow was even warmer and cozier than usual. I was spending the Christmas holiday with the Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione, and I must say, it was one of the most festive Christmases of my life. As soon as I had walked in the door to their house for what was the first time ever, I was handed a Weasley sweater and a gingerbread cookie. Mrs. Weasley had the radio turned on to the popular Christmas music station 24/7 - I must say, listening to the Weird Sisters sing "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" was a bit strange, even for me. Fred and George had been trying to trick everyone into trying their "mistletoe-traps" and just last night, we had strung the house up with lights.

Tonight, we were decorating the Christmas tree.

It was one of the biggest trees I had ever seen, and it took up almost a quarter of the Weasley's living room with its enormous girth. Its tallest branches bent against the ceiling and as a result the tree looked quite crammed. I was helping Ron get out the tinsel from a box and giggling as Mr. Weasley attempted to shrink the tree to a slightly smaller size.

After several loud bangs and a wisp of smoke, Hermione stepped in. "Here, Mr. Weasley, let me. You're doing the wrong spell, you see..."

I stopped listening as soon as Ron handed me the last strand of tinsel. I smiled at him, only to notice that he had gotten silver sparkly strings in his hair! I bit back a laugh as I stepped in closer to help him untangle them.

Ron blushed as I pulled out the last of the tinsel, and I met his downcast eyes with a grin. "You know Ron, that wasn't a bad look for you. You could wear tinsel next year with those awful - I mean wonderful - dress robes you wore to the Yule Ball."

He pushed me gently and said, "Yeah, right!"

I laughed as I turned away from him to help Mrs. Weasley with her wobbling tray of steaming hot chocolates. Together we went around, distributing the drinks, when Ginny pulled me aside.

"Watch out for Fred and George," she whispered, "I think they're planning some kind of prank."

I nodded and promised to watch out. But we started hanging the ornaments, and soon, I let my guard down. I was joking and laughing with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, my three best friends. Thankfully, when the tree was finally full of ornaments, nothing had happened to me.

With a wave of her wand, Ms. Weasley lit up the tree's lights. It was amazing - all of our hard work had really paid off. The tree may still have been a bit large and lopsided, and the ornaments might have all been different, but I swear it was the best Christmas tree I had ever seen.

My thoughts were interrupted, however, by a gentle touch of Ron's hand on mine. I looked at him, surprised, laced my fingers through his, and gave his hand a squeeze. He stepped closer to me and I leaned against him gently, until bam.

The two of us were almost as connected as conjoined twins by a strange vine that had grown out of nowhere. Mrs. Weasley shrieked as Ron and I tried desperately to separate, failed, and toppled onto the nearest couch.

"Fred! George!" she cried shrilly as the two boys high-fived in the corner of the room. "What did you do to them?"

"Oh, nothing permanent," said Fred (I think).

"Just our newest invention - the mistletoe-trap. Hopefully the name will clue them in to how to get rid of the mistletoe connecting them."

Both Ron and I blushed crimson as Hermione blurted out, "They have to kiss!"

The twins chuckled and George said, "Now that's why they call you the smartest witch in your grade."

I tried to twist away from Ron so I could glare at the twins, but the vine was basically immobilizing us.

"Well, this is awkward," I muttered as I squirmed around on top of Ron. I added, louder, "Ron and I are just friends, anyways! Why did you pick us?"

"We don't think Ron wanted to be just friends."

I froze. "Ron?"

He looked very uncomfortable and cursed at his brothers.

"Ronald!" Mrs. Weasley scolded.

"Why are you punishing me? It's the twins' fault!"

At this point, Fred and George had slunk out of the room. Mrs. Weasley turned to follow them, Ron cursed some more at the situation, all of our friends and the rest of the Weasleys were staring at us, and I couldn't help but laugh.

I planted a quick kiss on Ron's cheek and smiled at the resulting blush and also the fact that the vine had quickly receded. Ron and I untangled our limbs and got off of the couch.

"Ron, next time you have a crush on someone, I think you should tell them," I said with a wink. "They just might like you back."