With A Little Interference

A few rays of light from the Burrow spilled through the cracks in the curtains, piercing the dark, wintry night outside. They didn't get very far; the fog outside was so thick you could almost believe it was a solid, swirling white mass. Inside the house several members of the Weasley family, along with a few family friends, sat in the living room, which was thankfully heated by a lively fire. The room was alive with the sound of voices in animated conversation.

"Well I hope you have a boy," said one. "Boys don't nag so much."

"Ah, but girls are more intelligent. And far less lazy."

"Yes, but--"

"I'm just thankful lycanthropy can't be passed down through genes," someone wisely interrupted.

"Oh, absolutely, Remus," another person laughed.

"Hey, what are the chances of it being a Metamorphmagus? That passes down through the genes, doesn't it?"

"Yes, I am sure zat it does, dear."

"Move over, will you, Bill? I'm freezing..."

It was late on Sunday evening. Now that all of their children - with the exception of Ginny, who had only finished her schooling at Hogwarts a few months ago - had left home, Mrs Weasley and her husband had the family down to dinner almost every weekend. Harry and Hermione were always invited too, of course, along with other family friends or old Order members. Today it was Remus and Tonks, who had been married for just over a year.

Mr and Mrs Weasley, along with their guests were seated in the living room - some on sofas, some perched down on the floor to be closer to the fireplace, from which a delicious warmth emanated. It was the lazy after-dinner period of the evening. Usually, before dinner, the guests would be clustered in small groups around various areas of the house, either chatting animatedly or making dull small talk. But after dinner the entire family, plus guests, would congregate in the living room, grabbing whatever form of seating they could. And instead of various mini-conversations going on, there would be one universal conversation in which the rowdier members of the family would participate, whereas the quieter ones would sit by silently and listen.

Tonight was no exception. Three people, however, were not involved in the lively discussion currently taking place in the living room. The first was Ginny, who had just gone to the kitchen to deposit some empty glasses. The other two were Fred and George, who were sat slightly apart from the hubbub. They had been quietly discussing something with each other when each felt a finger tapping them on their shoulder. They looked up.

Ginny was standing behind them. "Hello, you two," she greeted. "How's the joke-shop going?"

"Oh, it's you, Gin. The shop is going wonderfully. Fred and I truly have a knack for business," George replied modestly.

"You mean a knack for causing huge amounts of chaos?" she corrected. "Still selling stuff to the Ministry, are you?"

"They can't get enough. Although... when You-Know-Who was around, we did a lot more trade with them."

"Yep. He may have been a Muggle-killing maniac, but he was good for business."

"Stop mentioning him," Ginny whispered, sounding mildly irritated. "You know Harry doesn't like it. Not since that final confrontation. Anyway, still working on creating your own brand of magical defensive items?"

"We're not too sure about that now. There's not much demand for defensive products these days. If only the Wizarding world could be blessed with a few Dementor attacks or something..." Fred sighed wistfully.

"Why don't you go into the match-making business?" she asked, watching them closely. "I've heard about what you did for Neville and Luna."

"Oh, they've told you about that, have they?" Fred asked, sounding vaguely surprised.

"Yes," said Ginny, looking suspiciously down at the twins. "I was talking to Luna the other day and she mentioned that you two had given them a little... help with their relationship. Like a little nudge."

"A nudge, eh?" said Fred, sounding amused.

"They're not under some sort of... spell or something, are they?" Ginny asked sternly, regarding the pair in the same sceptical way anyone sensible would regard a product from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

"Hey! What makes you accuse us of that?"

"Well, it's just, they're very... happy," she concluded, as if there were something seriously wrong with the idea of two people being very happy when Fred and George were concerned. And rightly so, too, for this was often the case.

"Well, that's us, spreading sweetness and light."

"Har har," Ginny said dryly. "Are you sure you haven't put them under some sort of spell? No? Then a curse? A hex? A charm? No? Are you sure?"

"Ginny, Ginny, Ginny," George tutted, shaking his head and sighing a tad too dramatically. "Don't you trust us?"

"Of course not, you twits."

"We always knew you were a smart one," George said, winking.

"So, if - as you claim - they're not under a spell or a potion or anything like that, what did you do for them?" she asked curiously.

"Sorry, Gin. We don't reveal trade secrets."

"Oh, come on! You'd hardly be revealing a trade secret! You're not even in the match-making trade! Besides, I'm family."

"Younger sister or not, we never reveal our methods," said George, sounding uncharacteristically stern. It was odd, but even Fred and George drew lines somewhere. "Anyway," he continued curiously, "what makes you so eager to find out the little nudge we gave Loony and Longbottom, eh, Gin? Things between you and Harry cooling down a little, are they?" He winked at her.

"No! Things are-- I was just curious, that's all."

"Come on, Gin, you can tell us," said Fred persuasively. "What's the matter? Harry no longer interested in you?"

"Yeah, we've noticed the admiring way he looks at Fleur."

"What? He does not!" Ginny hissed, briefly giving in to their taunts. "Besides, I wasn't asking on behalf of me and Harry."

"Oh, of course you weren't, Gin. You were asking on behalf of a close friend, right?" George gave her another conspiratorial wink.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake," she snapped. "I really wasn't thinking about me and Harry - and for your information, things between us are completely fine," she added. Then, lowering her voice and glancing towards her family clustered around the fireplace, she said, "If you must know, I was thinking about Ron and Hermione. I mean, have you seen the way they behave around each other? It's so obvious that they like each other, only both of them are too bloody terrified to actually do anything about it." Ginny rolled her eyes. "It's been driving me crazy! I was so certain that by the time I was out of Hogwarts they'd be together, but that was five months ago and still nothing. I've tried hinting to Hermione, but all she does is turn red and try to deny everything. And Ron does the same - he just turns awkward and tries to deny everything."

"So you've come to us for help, then? Well, we commend you on your choice, Ginevra. You've seen what we've done for Loony and Longbottom. They're as happy as anything."

"I didn't choose you - you were the only ones I could come to. I've asked Harry, but he refuses to get involved--"

"Why?"

"He wants to keep well out of the way if Ron and Hermione are going to start dating. Says that if things get complicated between the two of them, he'll only be stuck in the middle," she explained.

"What makes him think that?"

"Oh, I don't know," Ginny replied airily. "But, anyway, Charlie's abroad, so that rules him out. As for Bill, Phlegm's always floating around him and I don't want to involve her. Percy," - here, she frowned slightly - "well, you know what he's like. And I can't ask Mum, she'd just fuss too much, and Dad's too busy with work, so that leaves the two of you."

"You mean you're not asking us on account of our highly acclaimed and venerated match-making skills?" Fred asked, injecting some hurt into his voice.

"Well, not completely. But whatever it is you did for Neville and Luna, I'll admit you did a good job; they have been very happy for the past few months. Incidentally, why were you two doing them a favour?"

Fred and George glanced at each other, identical cheeky smirks on their faces. "Well, we weren't really doing them a favour, per say..."

"No, it was more like an apology for what we did to them before we helped them out."

Ginny sighed. "If I agree to let you help Ron and Hermione, I don't want any funny business," she said sternly. "No pranks. Just do what you did for Neville and Luna. And don't let them find out. Hermione'll be absolutely furious if she knows I've allowed you two to meddle in her love life."

"No worries. We'll have them together by Christmas."

Ginny frowned and, in a voice that betrayed the argument in her conscience, said, "Look, I'm not exactly asking you to do anything about them. I mean," she babbled on, "I don't think either Ron or Hermione would like it if I asked someone to get involved in their affairs..."

"Ah, say no more, young Ginevra. You're merely mentioning to us that they need some help getting together, that's all. It's never even crossed your mind that we might take it into our heads to do something about it. Is that right?"

"Well... yes."

"Fred and I will take care of things, don't you worry," George said, grinning. "We'll be... discreet about the matter."

Ginny sighed again. "If this goes wrong in any way - any way - I promise you that I will learn how to perform the most powerful Pepper-Breath Hex possible, that you'll feel like you can breathe fire," she threatened.

"We hear you, sister."

"Good. And, now, you're going to tell me what it is exactly that you're going to do."

"What?" Fred cried out, shocked. "We can't do that! Like we said, we don't give away trade secrets!"

"But if you're doing this for me, you ought to tell me!"

"We're not doing it for you, though, remember? Officially, you don't even know we're going to do something for them," George pointed out.

"Oh, stop being stupid," Ginny said, admittedly, she reflected, a poor argument. "Just tell me."

More appeals of this nature were made until Ginny gave up. On certain subjects, the twins had wills of iron.

"Fine," she eventually snapped. "Then you're not doing anything for Ron and Hermione, okay?

"But--"

"You're not doing anything," she said firmly, in a similar tone of voice to the one their mother often employed when talking to them. It was a tone of voice you didn't argue with - not when it was coming from a Weasley woman. "Okay? I don't trust you two, especially if you're not going to tell me what you're going to do to help them. Now I'm going to go and grab a seat by the fire. I'm freezing."

She stalked towards the fireplace and took a seat beside Harry. A few seconds after Ginny had gone, George asked, "So, are we going to do something for them anyway?"

"What d'you think?"

"I think it's our duty to help our youngest brother."

"I agree," said Fred, barely concealing a grin.

"And, you know, since we're not acting on Ginny's orders, we can go about this in any way we want to," George added significantly. After a brief pause he added, "You weren't serious about not trying to cause trouble, were you, Fred?"

"Merlin, no."

"Oh, good."

They grinned mischievously.