Ron Weasley walked into his home at the Burrow, completely happy.
He was getting married! He was getting married to the love of his life - his bushy-haired friend by the name of Hermione.
He twirled into the room and sighed onto the couch, lost in his own thoughts. What would his parents say when they found out? Would they be just as ecstatic as Ron that their youngest son was going to be married?
He sure hoped so. If he were going to be wed with anyone, then Ron thought that they would hope Hermione would be the lucky woman..
As if on cue, Mr. Weasley walked into the room. He was holding a small, white object. It was just as big as the palm of his hand, and he was clicking on the ends of it. It also had a little cord attached to it, which was trailing behind him.
“What in Merlin’s name is that, Dad?” Ron asked loudly.
Mr. Weasley looked up, startled, and gave Ron a curious look.
“What’s…what, Ronald?” he asked curiously.
Ron stood up from the couch and walked over to him. “This, Dad,” he said, pointing to the object.
“Oh.” He chuckled for a moment. “This.”
“Yes, that.”
“It’s called a ‘mouse’,” he told Ron promptly.
“A ‘mouse’? Aren’t those those little things that scurry across the floor and eat cheese? It’s kind of transformed a bit, don’t you think? What kind of spell did you use on it?”
Mr. Weasley chuckled again softly and put a hand on Ron’s shoulder. “It’s not one of those kinds of mice, Ron. It attaches to a computer.”
“What the bloody hell is that?”
“Well, it’s a type of Muggle thing that-”
“Hold that thought, Dad. I wanted to tell you about something…” Ron trailed off and fiddled with the front pocket of his jeans.
“What is it?”
“Hermione and I…” He paused for a moment, still taking it in. He loved Hermione with all of his heart, and he wanted it to be just as special when he told his parents about it. “Hermione and are getting married.”
Mr. Weasley stared at him for a few moments before registering what he had said. “You and Her-Hermione are…-“
“We’re getting married! Dad, she is just the most wonderful, kind…” Ron Weasley went on to use quite a few adjectives that expressed his love towards his fiancée. As he talked, Mr. Weasley walked him into the sitting area. To Ron’s curiosity, there was a small… box sitting on top of the small desk.
“And we’re going to have the wedding at the-” Ron paused, looking at the object. “What is that?” he asked quickly, looking over at the other side of the room intently.
“It’s a computer,” his father told him, glad that he had changed the subject. He was happy that his son and Hermione were getting married, but to have Ron go on like that for over a few minutes was a bit wary.
“What’s that? Why are there so many things around here that I don’t know about?” Ron asked seriously.
“I was just… experimenting, you know. Your mother knows that since I’ve gotten that promotion at the Office of Muggle Artifacts I’ve been more and more interested in the subject.” He chuckled at the topic. “She can’t turn away all of the things I bring home.”
“You know Mum.”
Ron walked slowly over to the “computer” and sat down on the chair in front of him. Mr. Weasley walked over and pushed a small button, which turned green.
“This part right here-“ He pointed to the part where he pushed the button. “-is called the ‘tower’. It turns on this device, and allows you to mess around with it.”
“What does it… do exactly?”
“Well, I know what it does, but there isn’t really a purpose for it. It’s mostly for people who are bored and are looking for something to do. It’s got the ‘enternet’.” Mr. Weasley stared in awe at the item on the desk. “It’s amazing. It’s spelled just like that key, there.” He pointed to a key in the center of another object.
Ron opened his mouth to voice another question, but Mr. Weasley had sense what he was going to say.
“This is called a keyboard,” he said, plugging the mouse back into the tower. “You can write words on this and it shows up on that screen, there.”
“Wicked!” Fred and George said, walking into the room.
“We heard from the other room that Ickle Ronnie-kins is going to get married!” Fred teased.
“Yes! How is our little brother going to be now that he has to take care of a…”
“Woman? Not that you two would know. You’ve never even come near one,” Ron retorted.
“Oooh, a little fiery, today, aren’t we?” George asked.
“I thought that was me,” Ginny said, walking into the room.
Fred hit George in the shoulder as she walked in with Harry, holding her hand. She had a very round belly, and was looking at them intently.
“Fred, lay off Ron. George… just quit. I’m totally not in the mood today.” She smiled sarcastically at the two twins and then walked over to Ron, who now had the desktop of the computer up. “I’m happy that you’re getting married, Ron. Especially to Hermione. You two deserve each other.”
“Yeah, finally,” Ginny heard Fred and George mutter simultaneously under their breaths. They both looked at each other for a moment, and then burst into laughter.
Ginny went up to both of them and slugged them each in the arm. “Leave. Him. Alone.”
Ron felt a surge of pride go through him as he looked at Ginny’s furious glares at his two brothers.
~ * ~
After the room had emptied out, Ron played around on the computer, allowing himself to venture throughout the entire and vast areas of it. He played a game called Solitaire, a game called Minesweeper, and then was eventually brave enough to get on the enternet. A little white box was displayed at the top of the page. He typed in numerous words, always finding something to do. That kept him busy for hours.
He finally got bored enough to start typing in his friends’ names. He eventually ended up typing:
Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, forever.
This brought him to a website called “Google”. It displayed a certain number of links, and Ron would click on each one. Oddly enough, some of them had some drawings and pictures on them, resembling himself and Hermione.
“ That’s odd,” he thought warily. Some of these people look just like me and Harry and Hermione…
He shook it off and kept reading what he saw on the computer screen.
~ * ~
Pretty soon, it was nightfall. Ron had officially become addicted to the ‘enternet’, and now he couldn’t seem to make himself get off of it.
He still hadn’t told his mother about his soon-to-be marriage to Hermione, but he wanted to. He just didn’t feel like getting off at the moment.
He was now on page seventy-four of the search engine, and his eyes had now officially adjusted to the bright white box sitting in front of him. He now stared blankly at the screen, but still read what it said. His eyes were now in deep squint and he knew that they were bloodshot. He hadn’t ever concentrated on something like this for so long.
He came across another website.
Mugglenet Fan Fiction
The headline read this dark and bold, and he was curious as to what fan fiction was, and what it had to do with himself, Hermione, and Harry. He clicked on the link quickly.
Soon, Ron found himself sitting up in his chair. He came upon a home page, and then had clicked ‘categories’. He was soon in the romance category; he wanted to pick up some tips if he were going to keep on reading.
There were different categories to actually choose from. “Draco/Hermione”, “Remus/Tonks”, “Harry/Ginny”.
This is getting really weird… Ron thought suddenly. All of these names go along with people that I know. Except for Draco/Hermione; she’s my woman-
But then he stopped dead, for what he saw next made his breath catch in his throat.
Ron/Hermione
I don’t think that I like the enternet anymore, he thought slowly.
He turned around quickly, looking for someone - anyone to blame for this mishap. Had Death Eaters somehow tricked him into this, and were now going to kill him for something? How would you feel if your name and pictures were plastered all over the enternet? Ron didn’t think that this was normal…
And then, he started reading.
The Glories of the Enternet by Ron x Hermione
Chapter Notes: This story was written for Phily for the Secret Badger game in the Hufflepuff Common Room on the forums. *huggles Phily* I would like to thank my beta, just_the_contrary.