“Can’t I at least put at gnome in her bed or something?” Hermione threw down her fork disgustedly, a few days after their ‘talk.’ She and Ginny had just stumbled across Ron and Elodie entangled in a hedge as they had made their way outside for lunch. Hermione poked at her treacle tart, more angrily then apathetically, which Ginny noticed.
“Ooh, Hogwarts Prefect, playing pranks?” she asked teasingly, but then sighed. “But you can’t, Hermione. She hasn’t technically done anything to you, and pranking her just makes you seem petty.”
Hermione scowled. “I know,” she groaned. “But it’s just so tempting!”
Ginny shook her head and started off towards the house, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like “tell me about it” and “Cho Chang.” Hermione grinned lightly, and followed her.
Once they finished cleaning their plates, Ginny brightened. Turning to Hermione, she said “We should go down to the village today! I don’t know about you, but I could use a day away from the Burrow. If I have to see Ron and Elodie snog one more time”or, for that matter, Bill and Phlegm”I think I’m going to be sick.”
Hermione felt a quick pang in her chest when Ginny oh-so-casually mentioned Ron and Elodie, but she recovered. “Okay,” she nodded. “Plus,” she said, elbowing Ginny, “we can keep an eye out for cute Muggle boys.”
Ginny grinned wickedly. “That’s my girl.”
The walk down to the village was relaxing, Hermione admitted. The sun was warm on the nape of her neck, and the light that filtered through tree leaves was clear and bright. The village lay just over a hill and through a patch of trees, and the girls took the short walk in silence. Hermione had glanced over at Ginny, whose long red hair was dancing behind her in the light breeze. Ginny’s brow was furrowed, and Hermione guessed she was thinking about Harry. She was tempted to say something, but refrained. She had no place to be giving advice on relationships anymore.
When they reached the village, Ginny seemed to shake her head, clearing her mind of its turmoil. “We should go to the village magic shop!” she said gaily, bouncing on her feet. She looked younger, more like the girl of sixteen that she was. The Muggle village took the weight of the world off her shoulders. Everything”Dumbledore’s death, Sirius’s death, Harry’s rejection”it all seemed to fall away. She grabbed Hermione’s hand. “The Muggle magic tricks are funny! They’re not real magic, just sleight-of-hand, but I can’t figure out how they do half of them!”
Hermione laughed, really laughed, for the first time since her arrival at the Burrow. “Ginny, I’m Muggle-born! I’ve see Muggle magic tricks plenty of times. And I might be able to give you some of the secrets.” She winked.
Ginny bit her lip and grinned. “Oh yeah,” she said. “I forgot.”
They pushed open the door, and Hermione blinked. Leaning at the counter, talking to the Muggle salesgirl, was a lanky, red-haired young man. Ron? Hermione started to say his name, but he turned around and she changed mid-word. “R-ed.”
“Red?” said Fred Weasley. “That’s a new one.”
“Nonsense,” said an identical voice from behind. “People always call you Red, whenever they don’t know which ‘twin’ you are.”
“Right you are, George. They all think they’re quite intelligent-”
“-calling us by our hair color.”
“But this must mean that-”
“-dear Hermione can’t-”
“-tell us apart!”
Hermione rolled her eyes at them. “Of course I can tell you apart, Fred and George. It was just a slip of the tongue.”
Fred nodded, mock-sagely. “Innocent slip of the tongue. Of course. We understand.”
George grinned. “Just an innocent slip, Fred? No such thing. She must have had a different Weasley on the mind.”
“One whose name starts with an rrrrr sound, do you think?”
“Do we have such a brother?”
“Hmm, I don’t know. Is there a Rupert Weasley?”
“A Ralph?”
“A Richard?”
“A Ronald?”
“I think there might be one of those.”
They both turned to look expectantly at Hermione, who found it surprisingly easy to laugh at them. “Oh, bugger off, both of you,” she said, swatting at them. They bowed to her”making her laugh even more”and left the shop. The shopgirl looked slightly disappointed.
Hermione and Ginny browsed through Muggle card tricks for awhile, but then left the shop to walk out in the bright July day. On a nearby field, a group of Muggle boys were playing soccer. Ginny wrinkled her nose disapprovingly as she watched them, but Hermione poked her in the ribs. “Cocky Quidditch player,” she teased. Ginny stuck out her tongue. “I’ll have you know,” said Hermione severely, “Soccer players are very popular in the Muggle world. Before Hogwarts, I always thought the soccer players were the good-looking ones. And I still think they’re more attractive then Quidditch boys.”
Ginny rolled her eyes. “Quidditch boys don’t sweat so much,” she said disgustedly.
Hermione nodded, keeping a straight face. “Exactly.”
Ginny looked at her in alarm for a moment before Hermione rolled her eyes. “Ginny. I’m joking,” she said, smirking. Ginny shook her head, amused. And then Hermione saw a flash of dark hair out of the corner of her eye.
She looked up, hoping she was mistaken. After all, there were a lot of girls with black hair in the world.
But no, this raven-haired beauty was clinging to the arm of a red-headed boy, and Hermione recognized Ron even from this distance. She swore, and Ginny turned around. Her disgusted face returned, and she said, “I wasn’t kidding when I said I would throw up if I saw them snog again. Let’s go.”
That heavy feeling returned as they trudged back up the hill to the Burrow. The sunlight was dimmer now as it drew nearer to the horizon, and the shadows beneath the trees were longer and more pronounced. There were still several hours until sunset, but Hermione felt her mood darken the day around her.
They had almost reached the Burrow when a twig snapped behind them. Hermione and Ginny whirled around, and Hermione felt for the wand concealed in her sleeve. They heard a thud, and somebody swore loudly. “I don’t think wild animals know those words,” hissed Ginny, and they let out weak giggles.
Several tense seconds later, a boy fell out of the brambles at their feet. He blinked up at them, focused on Hermione, and smiled. “Hi,” he said breathlessly, offering a hand for her to shake, while still lying flat on his back.
Ginny and Hermione looked at each other dubiously. Hermione grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. As in love with Ron as she was, she had to acknowledge that he was cute. Unruly brown hair flopped into his chocolate eyes and stuck up in tufts, where it had been caught by branches. He was well built; toned, but not excessively muscular, and a few inches taller then Hermione.
Hermione glanced sideways at Ginny, and from her wide-eyed look of surprise, knew that Ginny was thinking the same things.
He smiled down at Hermione. “Benji,” he said, offering his name. “Or Ben, if you’d like.”
She inclined her head. “Hermione,” she said, and couldn’t resist adding in a teasing tone, “Benji. That’s cute.”
She saw Ginny snort.
Benji shuffled his feet, embarrassed. “I saw you watching our soccer game,” he said. “I-I wanted to come say hi, but you left too soon.”
Half flattered and half suspicious, Hermione smiled at him. “Now you have,” she said, and started to turn away.
He grabbed her elbow and she turned, surprised. “AlsowasIwonderingifyouwannagetfood.”
“Er-sorry, what?”
Benji cleared his throat. “Um, I was also wondering if you’d, um, maybe want to get dinner sometime. In the village. With, um, me.”
Taken aback, Hermione said, “Oh, um, I don’t know. You see, I-”
Ginny interrupted. “We don’t come down to the village much. Why don’t you come up and have dinner with us?” she smiled sweetly.
Benji smiled, relaxing. “Yeah, that’d be nice.” He grinned at Hermione, who smiled quickly and reflexively, and then grabbed Ginny, pulling her out of earshot.
“What in Merlin’s name do you think you’re doing, Ginny? He’s a Muggle!”
Ginny looked nonplussed. “So?”
“So!” Hermione was almost apoplectic. “So you have a house where the food cooks itself, with spell books lying around, owls flying out the windows, and frogspawn in the sink.”
Ginny waved away her protests, and looked over at Benji, who seemed to be humming to himself. “He’ll just stay outside.”
“Oh, because that’s so much better,” Hermione snarled. “No, of course he won’t notice the motherwort with the tulips, the monkshood with the pansies, or the garden gnomes.”
“Oh, Hermione. We just de-gnomed yesterday. And I’m sure he doesn’t know plants well enough to see anything suspicious.”
“Ginny, you don’t need to know plants to know yours aren’t…Muggle safe! You have a rosebush that changes colors and sings love ballads!”
Ginny grinned like the Cheshire cat. “I expect you’ll be able to come up with a good story, Hermione. I have faith in you. Besides, he’s very attractive.”
Hermione frowned. “His eyes are too close together.” She glanced over at him again. He was standing with his hands at his sides, and his eyes glazed over as he started at the trees. “Besides,” she grumbled. “He doesn’t seem too bright.”
Ginny shrugged. “Whatever, that’s not important.”
Hermione’s jaw dropped, and she used the last bit of hope she had. “Your mother will be furious!”
“Of course she won’t be. Mum’s been dying to see you with a good guy for a long time. You walk back here”slowly!”with Benji, and I’ll run ahead and warn Mum.”
Hermione gaped at her, furious. Ginny turned to walk up the hill, and then stopped. “Oh, and you might want to get a little lost. It’ll buy us some time, and maybe he’ll get scared and want to hold your hand.”
It took Hermione several minutes to find her voice. Then she stomped angrily back to Benji.
Enchanted by Willow Rosenberg
Chapter Notes: It would be so much easier to get Ron if it wasn't for Elodie...or those bloody soccer boys.
Sorry it's taken so long to get this up!
And apologies in advance for Ben. I know he seems like a Gary at first, but trust me...he won't stay that way ;-)