Rules of Love

---

Hermione pushed back her hair from her face, wiped the sweat from her forehead and settled down on the grimy floor with a heap of books. The small attic was full to bursting point with all sorts of odds and ends - a broken rattle, some pieces of crockery thick with filth, old clothes which wouldn’t fit even a house-elf...

Hermione reached across to check if there were any books under the pile of clothes when an orange sweater with the words 'Ron Weasley' scrawled on it in small, spiky handwriting caught her eye. She picked it up and imagined what Ron would have looked like when he was small enough to fit into it. The image brought a smile to her face.

"What are you smiling at?" came a voice from the doorway.

Hermione dropped the sweater, startled. "Ginny! Don't do that!"

"What?" asked Ginny smiling mischievously. "I just came to warn you that the Ghoul will be returning any moment now. Fred and George have received owl orders from their customers and they have apparated to their shop. And judging by the way they dealt with the ghoul, it is not in a very good mood and will probably try to maim any person who dares invade its home."

"Well, then this will have to do, I guess," said Hermione sadly looking at the small (or so she thought) pile of books. "Maybe another day?"

"Don't count on it," said Ginny decisively as she led the way downstairs.

Once inside Ginny's room Hermione dropped all the books on the floor, raising a cloud of dust.

"Are you seriously going to read all these?" asked Ginny incredulously, leafing through one of the books.

Before Hermione could reply, Ginny squealed excitedly and started laughing maniacally dropping the book she was holding.

"What's the matter?" asked Hermione anxiously, retrieving the book.

Printed in gold letters were the words, 'Weasley Family Album No.6 - Riotous Ron' Feeling extremely curious, and amused at the adjective riotous, Hermione opened the album to find several pictures of the Ron she had visualized only a few minutes earlier in the attic.

She smiled fondly. He was so cute! In one of the pictures the twins were being chased by a furious Ron clad only in underwear, his face beet red.

"That was the time when Fred and George stole Scabbers for one of their 'experiments'," said Ginny smiling at the memory.

Hermione spent the next half an hour looking at the pictures and laughing as Ginny expanded the situations that led to the photograph being taken. "What are the two of you laughing at?" asked a voice from the doorway.

The book fell to the ground for the second time. "Ron! You startled me!" exclaimed Hermione. She took one look at him and almost dropped the book again. He had obviously just had a shower. His shirt stuck to his body and droplets of water were cascading down his forehead. One poised tantalizingly near his mouth and Hermione nearly fainted at the visions her mind was conjuring up of her licking....No, stop that train of thought right now! She resolutely dragged her mind from its dirty meanderings and focused instead on what the object of her 'contemplations' was saying.

"You guys were actually looking at this" he sounded scandalized.

"Yeah, I was just explaining to Hermione why only your face was visible in this photo," said Ginny smiling roguishly.

Ron looked at the photo in question - A 3-year old version of himself, with a face like a tomato was peering through the edge of the frame, looking highly mortified. There were tear streaks on his face. Ron remembered when that photo was taken. He had just finished his bath and stepped out of the bathroom when he discovered that his favourite underwear (a bright orange with broomsticks printed all over it) was missing. The twins had struck again. He had sat in the middle of the room (naked) and bawled until Fred had taken a picture, the flash momentarily stunning him into quiet.

His cheeks still burned at the memory. Luckily his photo had the sense to hide his..um..from the girls.

He glared at the two girls who were in serious jeopardy of combustion from the pressure of their restrained mirth. "This album comes with me!" he declared firmly. "I'm not going to have you two violating my privacy like that."

"Oh, you can have it by all means, Ron," said Hermione. "We have quite finished with it. Thanks for providing us with 30 minutes of hilarity." She burst into giggles once again.

Ron glowered. "So glad that I could be a source of merriment," he said acerbically. He turned and walked away pausing only to say, "Mom called you two for dinner." As he left the room, he distinctly heard Hermione ask Ginny if there were any more albums of 'Riotous Ron'.

Ron grit his teeth.

~*~*~*~*~ After dinner, Hermione went straight to the room which she shared with Ginny and settled with one of the numerous books that she had rummaged from the attic. Harry had not yet arrived and Ron was still angry with her for seeing his album, so she had decided to make the best use of it. Harry would arrive the next day and she knew that she would be hard pressed to find time for herself after that.

As she delved through the pile of books trying to decide between an ancient book of Potions and a book on Arithmancy, her glance fell on a muggle magazine. She recognized it as one she had seen in a beauty salon, a few years back. Feeling curious, she picked it up and leafed through it. An article entitled, 'How to get the boy you like fall madly in love with you!' caught her eye.

Normally she would have skimmed over the article, dismissed the magazine as trash and moved onto either the book on Potions or Arithmancy, but fresh from the encounter with wet, dripping, sexy Ron and going nearly crazy with mooning over him for nearly a month in her house, her mind refused to co-operate with the brain when it asked her to shut the magazine and proceed to loftier books.

Her eyes skipped through the introduction and meaningless words printed with the sole intention of filling space and focused on the essential part-

1.To win a man's attention, simply ignore him. 2. To run after a man is to chase him away 3. Always keep a man guessing - be mysterious ! 4. Never show a man that he has the power to hurt you. 5. Feed a man's ego flatter him even if it's all a lie

She had just reached the last point when Ginny came in. "What are you reading?" she asked perching on the bed and peering over her shoulder.

Hermione reddened, feeling a bit embarrassed at being caught reading a muggle magazine and an article on how to interest boys, to boot!

"Hermione, is there something I should know?" asked Ginny smiling cheekily.

"Like what?" asked Hermione innocently, even though she knew it was useless.

"Like you being romantically interested in somebody?"

"Of course not!" protested Hermione indignantly. "I was just glancing through this magazine when this article caught my eye. I was just marveling at the stupidity of people who manage to write this trash and the even more gullible-" She broke off as she realized that Ginny was not listening and was busy scanning the article.

Hermione looked at it again. She snorted. "Aren't these counter productive? Do they really think that ignoring a guy will catch his attention?"

Ginny looked up. "I think these points are really good."

Hermione couldn't believe her ears. "What?"

"I spent four years of my life flouting all these points- Did I ignore Harry? That's a laugh. Though I did my best to make him wish he could. Did I run after Harry? Emphatically yes. Did I keep him guessing? I probably kept him guessing as to what Ron's little sister would be doing next to embarrass him. I don't think I did anything particular regarding the last two points, maybe because by then my fairy Godmother decided that she had had enough of my gaucherie and knocked some sense into my head."

Hermione stared at Ginny, too surprised to say anything. After a few moments of silence, Ginny laughed. "Well, I think I have learnt my lesson. Don't you think its time to put these rules into action?"

Hermione stared some more. "Are you serious?" she asked.

Ginny nodded, her impish smile back in place.

"But I thought you were over Harry." The moment the words were out Hermione wished she could swallow them.

Ginny's smile faltered. She seemed on the verge of saying something but changed her mind. "Yes, I am, but I just want to test it on him as an experiment before trying it out on a boy I really like. What about you? Care to try it out?"

"I don't know..." said Hermione doubtfully.

"Come on. Its just for fun," said Ginny persuasively.

"Whom will I try it on?"

"Don't have much of a choice, do you? There are only two guys here and Harry is already taken. That leaves-"

"Don't even think it!" warned Hermione.

"Oh, come on. I know you like someone, otherwise why would you be reading this rubbish anyway? Before trying it on him it'd be good to get some practice on somebody else. Plus it would be better to try it at the Burrow, where we won't be the laughing stock even if the rules miscarry, unlike at Hogwarts."

"But I couldn't try it on Ron! He is my best friend," protested Hermione.

"Which makes it even easier. Even if the rules don't work, there's no harm done. Moreover, Ron is so thick that he won't even notice what you're upto. He is your best bet."

"But what if the rules work?" asked Hermione.

Ginny smiled. "We'll cross the bridge when we come to it."