Enchantment

"Hermione, wait," Ron said, putting his hand on her arm.

Hermione Granger was surprised. Despite the fact that they were close friends, Ron Weasley rarely touched her. The two of them were alone in the Gryffindor Common Room and she had been about to go up to the girls' dorm.

"Yes, Ron?"

"I was wondering. . .if, um, if you. . .if you had a date for the Yule Ball yet?"

"No, not yet. Why?"

"Wouldyougowithme?" Ron asked, speaking so quickly the sentence came out as one long word.

"Why, yes, Ron. Of course. Is Harry taking Ginny?"

"I don't think so. Last I heard, he was working up his nerve to ask Cho. Why?"

"Well, I remember that was your idea -- or maybe Harry's idea, I'm not sure which one of you came up with it -- last year. That you could take me and Harry could take Ginny."

Ron grinned at her. "Despite putting my foot in my mouth when I attempted to ask you last year, Hermione, I'm well aware of the fact that you're a girl. I noticed that quite some time ago."

"Well, um, okay then," Hermione said. "Goodnight, see you in the morning."

"Good night, Hermione."

***

Hermione lay in her bed that night, trying to sleep. Perhaps she could get up and brew herself a potion, she thought. She seemed to be coming down with something; insomnia combined with a touch of fever. Her cat, Crookshanks, usually slept curled by Hermione's side; tonight, however, he'd apparently become impatient with her restlessness and had stalked off.

Finally, after flipping over her pillow for the fourth or fifth time, she remembered the words her mother had spoken to her that summer. Mrs. Granger might be a Muggle, and a dentist to boot, but she was still a mother and knew her daughter better than Hermione sometimes like to admit.

"You're honest enough about facts and with other people, Hermione," Mum had said gently the night before Hermione was to leave for her fifth year at Hogwarts. "But I think you sometimes try to lie to yourself about your feelings. Self-honesty and self-awareness are virtues it wouldn't hurt you to practice more frequently. For instance, I know you've been pining for that boy in a way that makes me suspect you'd like him to be more than just your friend."

"If you mean Harry, Mum," Hermione had begun heatedly. . .

Mrs. Granger had interrupted her with a laugh, "Of course, I don't mean *Harry*, dear! Goodness, he's like a brother to you. I mean Ron, that marvelously tall redheaded lad whose mother invited you to spend a few days at their house last summer."

"Ron and his sister, Ginny, are my friends, Mum."

"I know they are. That's good, because sincere friendship is the best basis for any kind of long-term relationship. But I do believe you are doing just what I've told you to try not to do: evading the truth about your own feelings. Since you clearly don't want to talk about Ron with me, I'll say good night now. Pleasant dreams, dear."

Okay, you win, Mum! Hermione mentally told her mother in the darkness of her dorm at Hogwarts. You want me to admit my feelings about Ron? Fine, here goes: I'm crazy about him and it hasn't escaped my notice that he's incredibly tall and I wonder constantly what it would be like to kiss him and I want to slap those stupid third and fourth year girls who are always looking at him and giggling and batting their eyelashes at him and my skin is still tingling with warmth from where he touched me hours ago. But. . .I'm scared, Mum. Because he means so much to me, because we've been friends for so long, I couldn't stand it if things got all awkward and weird between us. As much as I want him to be my boyfriend -- and I do, more than anything! -- I don't want to lose him as my best friend. And I'm worried that he just asked me to the Yule Ball because he didn't want to bother with trying to figure out who else he could ask and that he doesn't feel the same way about me that I do about him.

Amazingly, Hermione realized that giving vent to her own feelings actually *did* make her feel better. She was asleep in a mater of minutes, dreaming about the Yule Ball. Crookshanks soon hopped back up on the bed and curled up beside her.

***

***

The evening of the Yule Ball, the girls disappeared into their dormitory as soon as afternoon classes were over. Hermione was fretting over her dress. She wanted to look nice for Ron. Ginny was going with Colin Creevey this year. Cho was going with Harry, although she had made it clear they were just going as friends. Angelina Johnson was going with Fred Weasley and the other female member of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team was going with his twin, George.

When Hermione finally came down the stairs, Ron gulped and then said, "You look nice. I mean, uh, really pretty."

"Thank you," Hermione said, realizing she was blushing but powerless to do anything to stop it.

***

Several hours later, Hermione and Ron slipped out from the ballroom to stroll about the snow-dusted gardens of Hogwarts. Strings of tiny fairy lights and an almost-full moon gave enough light to see by, but still left patches of shadows on the ground. Judging from the occasional giggles and sighs emitting from some of the shadow patches, it was obvious that Hermione and Ron weren't the only couple who'd left the crowded ballroom for the somewhat more private gardens.

Hermione let Ron guide her down the winding paths with the gentle pressure of his hand at the small of her back. Eventually they stopped in a secluded corner beneath a giant oak tree.

"Look up, Hermione," Ron suggested.

Hermione glance up and saw that the tree was festooned with mistletoe. She blushed furiously, but stepped closer to Ron. He smiled gently down at her and framed her face with his huge hands, then dropped a light kiss on her tightly sealed lips.

"Th-that was nice," Hermione stammered.

"Yes, it was," Ron agreed. "But can I make a suggestion?"

"Okay."

"Let's try it again and this time open your lips just a little bit, Hermione."

Hermione did as he asked and this time she felt like she would have fallen if her arms hadn't been wound tightly around Ron's waist. Fireworks seem to explode in her stomach as just the tip of his tongue slipped lightly between her lips and then darted out again.

When Ron lifted his head Hermione smiled with delight. She wanted to ask him to kiss her again, but wasn't quite sure if that was considered proper. Instead, she asked the other question that was on her mind.

"Ron?"

"Mmm?"

"How did you know to do that?"

Ron grinned. "I do have five older brothers, Hermione. They are occasionally good about providing me with *useful* advice, rather than just tormenting me."'

"You asked Fred and George?"

"Good heavens, no! I wouldn't seek romantic advice from those two. They would likely have had me slipping an exploding gobstopper into your mouth or something. I meant the grown-up ones."

"Bill and Charlie?"

"I've found that I can pick up quite a bit of interesting information by keeping quiet and listening while Bill and Charlie talk to each other, but I didn't primarily mean them, either. Mostly I meant Percy."

"Percy?" Hermione asked incredulously.

Ron chuckled. "Percy's not quite the prig he pretends to be. Remember, he did have a girlfriend the last two years he was at Hogwarts. Also, he enjoys showing off how smart he is, which means he'll actually answer questions if I ask him. Besides, he likes you."

"Huh?"

"I mean, he likes that *I* like you," Ron clarified. "Because you're so smart and everything. He thinks you're a good influence on me; that you make me behave more like him and less like the twins."

"Oh."

"Hermione?"

"Mmm?"

"I, uh, didn't bring you out here so we could talk about my brothers."

"Did you want to kiss some more?"

"Yeah," Ron admitted, but he could feel the tips of his ears beginning to go warm.

"Okay," Hermione said, closing her eyes.

When Ron kissed her this time, she opened her mouth more than just a little bit. She couldn't help it; her lips seemed to move of their own volition, with no direction from her.

"D-did I open my mouth too much that time?" she asked when Ron finally lifted his head.

"It was fine, Hermione," Ron assured her. "But we'd better start heading back inside. Percy warned me that if couples are gone from the ballroom too long, Dumbledore and McGongall come out to look for them."

"Ron, promise me something," Hermione said, her voice low and serious as they walked back to the building while holding hands.

"Sure, Hermione. What?"

"Even if. . .if you decide sometime that you don't want me to be your. . .I mean, even if you find some other girl that you'd rather. . .kiss and stuff than me. . .please don't stop being my friend. I like kissing you. I like it a lot. But I couldn't stand it if we weren't friends any more."

"I know, Hermione," Ron replied, his own voice as serious as hers for once. "Why do you think I waited so long to ask you to a dance or try to kiss you? It's certainly *not* because I wasn't aware that you're a girl! It's just that I felt the same way: I wouldn't want things to get all. . .weird between us. Also, I wasn't quite sure. . .I mean, there's Harry to consider."

"Oh," Hermione said. "I hadn't even thought of that aspect. I guess it's because. . .well, I don't have any brothers, but I'm pretty sure that I feel about Harry exactly like you do about Ginny. I care about him, of course, but I could never. . .well, I'd never want to kiss him, for example."

"Hermione, I've seen you kiss Harry," Ron pointed out.

"Not like I kissed you," Hermione said.

"That's true," Ron admitted. The kiss Hermione had bestowed on Harry when the three of them were exiting the Hogwarts Express last summer had borne a much closer resemblance to the way Percy had kissed Ginny when welcoming them home than the way Hermione had kissed Ron just now.

***

Shortly after Ron and Hermione re-entered the ballroom, Dumbledore announced the final song of the evening. Ron and Hermione moved easily into each other's arms and began to dance in perfect rhythm with each other and the music.

It wasn't until the song was almost over that Ron realized they'd attracted an audience; one that was composed primarily of his siblings. Fred, George and Ginny were alternately staring at Ron and Hermione and glancing at each other with raised eyebrows. The other Weasleys' baffled dates were standing to one side. With the small corner of his brain that wasn't entranced by the feel of Hermione in his arms, Ron noticed that he was looking down at Fred and George. In itself, that wasn't unusual; he'd been taller than the twins for almost a year now. But he seemed to have grown six extra inches in the past couple of hours; either that or his brothers had shrunk.

Finally, just as the song was ending, Fred and George each reached up a beefy hand to one of Ron's shoulders and pulled him down. It wasn't until that moment that Ron realized he had Hermione had been hovering several inches above the floor while they were dancing.

"Ron, do you know what you were doing?" Ginny asked incredulously. "You were dancing with your feet off the ground!"

"Well, er, that happens sometimes you know," Ron replied.

"I've never heard of it happening," Angelina said. She was a bit miffed at Fred for ignoring her during the evening's final dance.

"It happens to Weasleys on occasion," Fred said.

"The dance is ended, boys and girls," Dumbledore's deep voice boomed out. "Please return to your dorms immediately. No loitering."

***

***

Early the next morning, Ginny Weasley found herself yanked into an empty classroom by Fred and George.

"We need to talk," George announced. "Who would have ever believed it would happen to Ron first, before any of the rest of us, even Bill?"

"And who would have thought it would have happened with Hermione Granger?" Fred added.

Ginny burst into laughter. "Who would have thought it would happen between Ron and Hermione?" she asked. "Just me and Mum and Dad and Percy and Bill, that's who! Charlie might be the only other one who's unaware, but if he is, it's just because he's been away in Romania almost constantly since Ron began Hogwarts. You two, on the other hand, have seen them together virtually everyday for the past four-and-half years. Are you honestly so thick that you never even suspected?"

"We always thought it was Harry who Hermione. . ." George began.

"Oh, posh!" Ginny snapped. "Hermione feels about Harry exactly the same way that I feel about Ron and you two and the rest of my brothers." She didn't feel it necessary to confide in Fred and George that her *own* feelings toward Harry Potter more closely approximated those that Hermione had for Ron.

"So everybody else in the family has known for ages?" Fred asked.

"Well, it's quite possible that Ron himself wasn't aware of it 'til last night," Ginny said. "Honestly, all of you are typical boys; totally clueless half the time! Did you ask Ron about it?!"

"Yeah," George replied. "All the did was give us this dreamy, superior smile and point out that it wasn't his fault. That we should blame our great-great-great-grandparents for that little show he and Hermione put on at the Yule Ball."

***

During the next several days, Hermione noticed that various members of the Weasley family were acting a bit odd around her. Strangely enough, the problem wasn't Ron. She'd been half-expecting that he might feel awkward with her after the kisses they'd shared on the night of the Yule Ball, but he was treating her pretty much the same way he always had. At least, he treated her the same way he always had when they were around other people, even if it was only Harry. When the two of them were alone together, which wasn't often, he'd developed a tendency to steal a quick kiss now and then. Hermione wasn't going to complain about that!

It was the twins and Ginny who were acting weird. Ginny had always been friendly toward Hermione, but during the past few days she'd abandoned the other fourth-year Gryffindor girls in order to hang out almost exclusively with Hermione. The twins, who had heretofore pretty much ignored Hermione's entire existence, even when she'd spent a week staying at The Burrow the previous summer, were now coming up to her at random intervals and asking her strange questions. Also, the twins and Ginny were often seen huddling together in a corner of the Gryffindor Common Room.

***

Finally, Hermione caught Ron alone at the Owlery early one morning.

"Hi, Hermione!" Ron said, quickly stuffing the parchment he'd received from Percy into the pocket of his robe and moving toward her.

Ron framed her face with his hands and was about to bend his mouth to hers for a kiss when she shook her head decisively and backed slightly away from him. "Not now, Ron. We need to talk."

"Okay," Ron agreed. Talking wasn't his first choice for the way he and Hermione should spent the brief intervals when they were without an audience, but that had actually been the subject of Percy's letter; that girls like to talk a lot and that any attempts to get them to kiss when they'd rather be sharing their innermost feelings was, in the long run, counterproductive.

"The twins are acting weird," Hermione announced.

"Hermione, as smart as you are, I'm sure you're not just now coming to the realization that Fred and George act weird."

"Well, weird in a different way than they usually do," she explained. "Actually, they've been amazingly nice to me lately. But they keep asking me questions about my parents and stuff. It's like they suddenly been infected with your father's obsessive interest in Muggles or something."

"Hermione, I gave up trying to figure out why the twins do what they do a long time ago."

"Ginny, too. She keeps following me around and wanting to know all about Muggle weddings."

Ron shrugged. "Ginny's a girl. She's interested in stuff like that."

"Ron, I don't think you're being totally honest with me. All of this has something to do with what happened at the Yule Ball, doesn't it? Did you tell your brothers and sister that you kissed me?"

"No, I didn't tell them," Ron replied honestly. "I told Harry because. . .well, because he's our best friend and I thought he sort of had a right to know that thing are a bit. . .different between you and me now."

"But they figured it out somehow, didn't they?" Hermione guessed. "Was it because of the way we were dancing; levitating several inches above the floor?"

"Er, yeah," Ron admitted.

"I just thought. . .maybe it was something that happened with wizards occasionally. Remember, I'm Muggle-born, Ron. Even after nearly five years at Hogwarts, there are things about the magical world that I don't know about."

"It's something that happens to Weasleys occasionally," Ron said. "We told you that at the Yule Ball."

"Is it like. . .a family curse or something?"

"I wouldn't go so far as to call it a curse," Ron said slowly. "More like an enchantment. It doesn't mean anything bad or cause any harm. It's just sort of a. . . phenomenon that happens to male members of the Weasley family sometimes when they're dancing. It started with my great-great-great-grandparents and has been handed down from father to son ever since that point."

"But what does it mean?" Hermione asked.

"Hermione, I don't think you want to know right now. It's nothing bad -- at least, I certainly don't think it is -- but I think you'd probably rather wait 'til later to have it explained to you."

"No, Ron," Hermione said stubbornly. "I want to know now. And I want you to be the one to tell me, but if you won't I'll ask Ginny or, if necessary, even the twins."

"Okay, Hermione, if you're sure."

Hermione nodded and Ron took a deep breath. "A couple of hundred years ago, more or less, my great-great-great- grandmother and my great-great-great-grandfather were students here at Hogwarts. They fell in love but he was sort of. . .stubborn about admitting it. So she put a spell on him. If he kissed her, and it was true love, and they danced together within the hour, their feet would hover above the floor. They did -- kiss, I mean -- and then they danced and it was without their feet off the ground. So she knew it was true love and they eventually grew up and got married and had kids and all that stuff. The only thing is, for some reason -- maybe because she was only a sixth-year student when she cast the spell -- it sort of got. . .stuck. The same thing happened to their sons and their grandsons and on down to my father and his brothers."

"And now to us?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah," Ron admitted. "I wasn't even thinking about the spell the night of the Yule Ball. I kissed you because I wanted to and when we went back in it was just in time for the last dance, so we danced. I probably wouldn't have even noticed what had happened if Fred and George and Ginny hadn't pointed it out."

"So that means. . .I'm your true love?"

"Yes, Hermione."

"And every time we dance together within an hour of kissing each other, our feet will float off the floor?"

"Yes, Hermione. It's quite a sight at Weasley weddings. Because everyone who's married will kiss before they dance -- just for fun, you know -- and so all the guests except some of the very young Weasleys and the non-family members will be twirling around above the floor."

"I think that's lovely, Ron."

Ron let out a huge sigh of relief. "That's good. I was a bit worried that you might be sort of upset to know that your future was already sealed, so to speak. I mean, we're only fifth year students. Usually it only happens to sixth or seventh year students, or even to those who have already graduated. It hasn't happened with Bill and Charlie yet, and I believe Mum and Dad are beginning to get concerned. There was a girl Bill liked quite a lot out in Egypt, but he kissed her and they danced and nothing happened so he decided to stop dating her."

"Ron, would you. . .actually say it to me? Please?"

"Say what?"

"Ron!" Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

It finally dawned on Ron that he was displaying the same sort of obtuseness that had gotten his ancestor in trouble and started the enchantment in the first place. Once again drawing Hermione into his arms, he smiled into her eyes and said softly, "I love you, Hermione".

Hermione smiled back and said softly, "I love you, too, Ron."

They kissed softly then began dancing to music that only the two of them could hear, while their feet hovered slightly above the ground.