Hey guys, I'm back! The events in this fic take place before Sex-Ed, Sirius Style. I know that this isn't the sequel you asked for, but I hope that it doesn't disappoint. The sequel is the works, trust me!

For those who haven't read Sex-Ed, Sirius Style, this timeline is in a Canon Divergence!AU where Sirius was acquitted of his alleged crimes around the start of Harry's fifth year. He doesn't die in the Department of Mysteries battle at the end of fifth year, and Harry defeats Voldemort by sending him through the Veil.

This fic can easily be read as a stand-alone, but I briefed you just in case ;)

Thank you ever so much to my lovely beta Arty (The Lady Arturia) for putting up with me and cleaning up this fic so well. Your suggestions and inputs were inspired and you made me feel proud of my work.

Thank you also to Jane (Dumbothepatronus) for taking time out to check over my work. Your insightful advice helped me clean up quite a few messy bits.

This fic is dedicated to Emily, who inspired me to write this idea. You wanted a Matchmaker!Ron, Em, and you got it!

This one's for the May Assignment on the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments) forum.

Assignment #9: Games & Sports (Quidditch Fouls)

Task #4:Bumping - Hitting a bludger to the crowd: Write about a group (3 or more people) gathering for something.

This is also written for the May Writing Club and the Spring Seasonal Challenges of the same forum. The prompts will be listed at the end of the work.

Disclaimer: J.K Rowling is a goddess and I can never compare. So, she keeps the characters, the places and her own created world, while I borrow them all every now and then like the pathetic human I am. The plot is all mine though!

Warnings: mild language, references to a m/m relationship.

Word count (chapter): 6938 words

Chapter 1

"Thank you all for coming. I appreciate you being here on time."

Ron Weasley grinned around at his friends. He dragged a hand through his bright red hair, listening to their annoyed protests.

"I didn't come here, Ronald. You decided to drag me here without my permission."

"Ugh, you are annoying and unnecessary. Worst brother ever."

"On time? Was there a meeting scheduled here? Why do you guys never inform me about these things?!"

"How interesting. The Wrackspurts around your ears seem to be growing bigger."

Ron, his grin never faltering, magnanimously decided to answer each complaint one by one.

"You were going too slow, 'Mione. Besides, if I didn't lead you, how would you know where to go?"

"I know my way to the Great Hall perfectly well, thanks," was the sarcastic retort he got in response.

"I don't doubt it, 'Mione. But you needed to be here right now, not the Great Hall." He turned over to his sister before Hermione could come up with another angry quip.

"You love me, Gin. Plus, this meeting is in the interest of someone we all love, so don't be such a grouch!"

"But today's Saturday! There's waffles for breakfast; can't this wait?"

"No, Ginny, this is a dire situation. We don't have time for waffles."

The collective gasp filling the room seemed a tad bit dramatic. He wasn't that much of a lunatic over food. Was he? No, he wasn't.

He rolled his eyes to prove his point. "I'm not that much of a lunatic over food," he defended himself.

The four scoffs directed at him, however, made it clear that his firm declaration didn't quite hit the mark. For Merlin's sake, even Luna Lovegood was judging him.

He shook his head, trying to ignore the implications of their negativity. He frowned. "Tough crowd."

Wanting to get a move on with the question and answer session, he turned to address Neville. Neville Longbottom's eyebrows, which were suspended somewhere along his hairline, quickly smoothed themselves out on meeting his gaze.

He tried to squash the rude little voice in his head telling him to be more offended. He was perfectly within the boundaries of sanity in his fond regard for food. After all, food was one of man's basic needs. Also, when you were the sixth and last son in Molly Weasley's house, you quickly learned to appreciate the concept of second and third helpings.

Fawning over creepy looking plants with unusual tendencies, on the other hand, was just plain crazy. In his opinion, anyway.

He blinked thrice in rapid succession to stop his thoughts from furthering down that lane.

"To answer your question, mate - no, there was no meeting scheduled per se. This was more of an impulse thing. Because the Situation — with a capital S — has reached its limits and I need to do something about it, and for that I need your help."

"What the fuck is this situation he keeps going on about?" he heard Ginny whisper. Hermione shrugged back. She seemed annoyed to be as out of the loop as the others.

Ron's lips quirked up. It wasn't often a person knew something that Hermione Granger didn't, and dating her didn't make him any less inclined to want to be that person. He'd take any chance he could get.

Seeing her turn his way, he quickly wiped the smug expression off his face. He may be a Gryffindor, but even he wasn't brave enough to warrant her anger when he could avoid it. Hermione was scary as hell when she was mad. It was super hot, but he preferred to play it safe.

Sighing in relief when all he received from her was a look of annoyed confusion, he turned to the last member of their little impromptu get together.

Luna Lovegood was more Harry's friend than his, but he could tell that there was more to her than the ditzy personality and her very questionable idea of proper conversation. He didn't initially plan on including her in their discussion, but he had found her chatting with his sister on their way down to breakfast when he had gone searching for Ginny, and he realized that she could be the perfect addition to their little team.

He liked Luna well enough. She had a lovely, serene smile which always felt to him like morning sunshine. She wore a pretty dress today, the colour of mint, and with her daisy earrings and glinting blonde hair, she reminded him of spring.

"What'd you say about those Wrackspurts, Luna? They're the ones which make your brain go fuzzy, right? Are there any around me?"

Hermione glared at him, undoubtedly for 'encouraging her fanciful delusions' - something she usually scolded Harry for. She always did have a rocky relationship with Luna, for reasons he didn't want to go into.

Ginny and Neville, on the other hand, leaned forward, interested in hearing her reply.

Luna stared back at Ron, her light blue eyes wide and glazed. He felt like she was staring right through him.

"Hmmn, yes, although these ones are giving off an angry red aura. There seem to be a few around your ears, Ron, but they are quite small. I think that they are tired of being attached to you, they seem to be wanting to move on. The rest of you have a much larger cluster around your heads. They are especially full of red energy when you are looking at Ron Weasley."

Ron bit his lip to hide his laughter.

She turned to Hermione, her eyes widening impossibly further. "You have the biggest Wrackspurts I've ever seen. They're buzzing a lot, it's quite loud. You should do something about it."

Hermione huffed softly. "I'd rather keep them," she muttered. "The buzzing might distort my hostile signals."

Ginny snickered into her hands. Neville looked at Hermione disapprovingly. Ron let out a little chuckle at seeing him trying to defend Luna.

Thankfully, Luna didn't seem to hear her. She stayed blissful and innocent, twirling a lock of her light blonde hair as she faced him again. The curls wrapped around her finger easily, her hair seemingly almost white against the paleness of her hands.

"The Wrackspurts look really fuzzy," she continued in her gentle, dreamy voice. "They are hard to spot without Spectrespecs, but I've always been particularly attuned to them. Somehow the Wrackspurts are always drawn to the people I talk to and have a really strong red aura. I wonder why. Daddy is owling me my first pair of Spectrespecs, I cannot wait to see them clearly."

Ron blinked in surprise. Did he hear that right? He looked around at the others, and found Ginny squirming in discomfort and Neville looking like he was physically stopping himself from hugging the dreamy-eyed witch. Even Hermione looked guilty at the blonde girl's admission.

Luna seemed completely oblivious to the tense reactions of the others.

No wonder she got on so well with his best mate.

Harry Potter was a wonderful friend. Ron often thought of him like a brother, although Merlin knew he had enough of those already. But even though he loved him and accepted his eccentricities, he knew that his best friend wasn't exactly the definition of normal.

Harry had insecurities a mile wide, too many nervous tics to count, and had an odd thing about food - he'd alternate between pushing things around on his plate and cramming them into his mouth. He'd wrap up sausages and toast "for later" like a chipmunk stocking up for winter, and he'd serve himself dishes he knew he hated, just because he could. He would say the weirdest things at odd times, and he glared at happy people on bad days.

Luna was very perceptive and showed it through her quirky comments and imaginary creatures. She was just insecure enough that Harry could relate to her well, and her brand of crazy meshed with his perfectly. Together they made a right pair, and could drive the most patient of saints to insanity with how unpredictable they were.

The thoughts of his best friend brought him back to the task at hand. None of the others had opened their mouths yet, and he was afraid to say anything himself.

Ron didn't have many reservations about saying things - Hermione kept bringing up his natural talent of putting his foot in his mouth - but he wasn't any good at being an ice-breaker. More often than not, he said the wrong thing and made it all worse. He wasn't about to try his hand at it now.

Ron wiggled in his seat. He didn't know how to deal with the sudden change in atmosphere. Picking at a sagging thread along the side of the stuffed armchair, he looked around at the accomodations the Room of Requirement had provided for them, taking in all the details.

The room they were currently in gave an even cosier feel than the Gryfindor common room, with soothing maroon accents. It was much smaller, for one, the perfect size for their little group. The large armchairs were perfectly cushioned and not too squashy; a rich dark blue in colour and the texture oh so comfortable, with little designs done in gold and silver. They were placed in a three-sided square, surrounding the only source of light - an impressive fireplace that dominated the whole room. It had a proper mantle and everything, and Ron had instantly fallen in love with the place.

The RoR truly was a marvellous find. While he still found the excitable house-elf a bit much, and detested being called "Master Harry Potter's Wheezy", he had to admit that he was quite grateful for Dobby, and not just for introducing them to this magical room. The elf was slightly annoying, but loyal to a fault and an excellent source of information. Plus, his cooking was fantastic, and he made the best puddings Ron had ever tasted.

The sound of a soft cough snapped him back to attention. Seated across, Hermione looked at him intently, as if the strength of her focused stare could overpower the discomfort he could see playing over her face.

"You called us for something, Ronald?" she asked him, tucking a lock of her bushy brown hair behind her ear. It popped back out, light brown glinting caramel in the firelight. Her deep brown eyes tightened in exasperation when her hair fell back over her forehead.

"Is it something serious? I had planned to complete my essays today, but if it is important enough for you to miss breakfast, I can reschedule."

Ron smiled at her gratefully. This was why she was such a great second-in-command. She always had his back.

Ginny and Neville leaned forward, eager to latch on to the new topic of conversation.

"Oh yes, the Situation is very serious and requires our immediate attention," he replied in a solemn tone. "And yes, Gin," he turned over to his sister, stopping her from butting in. "It is a Situation, with a capital S, because it has escalated enough to warrant proper capitalization."

Ginny snapped her mouth closed with a soft click. He could feel Hermione's appreciative gaze on him. No doubt, she was impressed at his ability to communicate like a proper adult. It wasn't that hard - all he had to do was pretend that he was imitating her and throw in a bit of dramatics for originality. It was murder to keep up, though.

He rested his elbows on the armrest, ready to begin his explanation, when Neville suddenly aimed a fiery glare at him.

"Stop dawdling and get on with it, Weasley!" Nev barked out, scaring the snot out of him. "Enough with the dramatics already!"

Hermione's sharp eyes snapped to him in surprise, and Ginny let out a soft whistle. Ron himself couldn't help staring at him, transfixed. He knew that he looked like a complete pillock with his eyes wide and his mouth hanging, but he couldn't seem to close either of them. Luna seemed to be the only one unfazed, still twirling her hair serenely.

Neville got redder the longer they stared at him. Finally, Ron's jaw unlocked enough to form words, and he said the first thing that popped into his head.

"Whoa, Nev, you just sounded like 'Mione! What's gotten your knickers in a twist?"

Ginny and Hermione snorted in unison, his girlfriend rolling her eyes like she knew his articulate phase wouldn't last for long. Knowing Hermione, she probably did, but was staying optimistic.

The flaming of Neville's round cheeks contrasted with the narrowing of his blue eyes. The shadows created by the fireplace made his irises look darker than they really were, matching Ron's own dark blue ones.

"What's wrong," said Neville, "is that you woke me up, at seven o'clock on a Saturday morning, by throwing a bucket of cold water on my head! You nearly dragged me down here in my wet pajamas to help with some big crisis, and I still don't know what it is! You know I never get up before nine on the weekends!"

Ron thought that he detected a faint growl in his voice, but scrapped the idea, because it was Neville. Neville Longbottom didn't growl, ever.

Ron fought the urge to put his fingers to his mouth and whistle like Seamus did. He straightened in his chair, deciding to hurry up with his explanation before Neville grew balls and tried to attack him.

Ginny, on the other hand, had no qualms whatsoever, and produced a sharp, piercing wolf whistle, giving him a quick wink. "Nice," she nodded to Neville with a little jut of her chin. The poor guy seemed to shrink into himself at the attention.

Luna turned to them both with her usual bland smile. "You should let Ron Weasley carry on before you wake up the Humming Glymphs."

"What are Humming Glymphs?" Hermione asked doubtfully.

"Oh, they're pretty little things! They have glittery wings and big light purple fangs and a lovely black stinger. They sleep on shimmery little purple clouds in the air and their humming harnesses focusing energies. They get really angry if you wake them up, and their stingers make your brain go numb."

Hermione looked torn between wanting to admire her creativity and itching to snap her to reality. He couldn't help but smile at that.

"Well," he said loudly. "You heard her. Best not wake the Humming Glyphs up."

"It's Glymphs, actually."

"Right, the Glymphs. Sorry, Luna."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "You were saying, bro?"

"Right," he continued, clapping his hands together. "The Situation. We need to get Harry and Malfoy together."

There was a beat of silence.

"Um, what?" Ginny looked at him, puzzled. "I don't think I heard right."

"Harry and the ferret. We need to get them together."

Hermione spoke in slow, measured tones, seemingly thinking even as she spoke. "You want to bring together Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy into a relationship. As friends?"

"No," he shook his head. "As boyfriends. They're already friends, 'Mione. Well, technically. We don't need to do anything on that front."

"Okay," she replied, speaking to him as she would to a distressed child. "Okay. May I ask why?"

"Why what?"

"She wants to know why you want to interfere in Harry and Malfoy's love lives, doofus," Ginny interfered like the pest she was. "Weren't you always the one predicting that 'the slimy git' would end up loveless and alone like his stony Slytherin heart?"

"More accurately, why would you want to set Harry up with him? I didn't ever expect you to ever entertain the idea, let alone bring it up yourself!" Neville added, not helping at all.

"Never mind why I want this! You know that Harry fancies him, right? Well, it has gone on long enough, and if he isn't willing to do anything about it, then it is up to us!"

Hermione replied to him in a soothing voice. "Of course we know that Harry has feelings for him, Ronald. He isn't very subtle, is he? I just didn't expect you to notice it, that's all. Or accept it, for that matter."

"Oh, I don't," he retorted in a flash. "Accept it, I mean." He frowned at his own reply, amending it. "Well, maybe I do, it isn't like I have a choice in the matter, do I? But I don't understand it at all, that's for sure. I mean, why Malfoy? What does Harry see in that blond git?"

Ginny smirked at him. "Like it or not bro, Malfoy's gotten hot. He was always hot, but lately he's really grown into himself. It helps that he's stopped gelling his hair back like he's aiming for Trelawney's crystal ball look."

Hermione snorted delicately, "That, I can agree with."

Ron shot his girlfriend a look of complete and utter betrayal. "'Mione, how could you?! Are you going to leave me for that slimy snake?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at him, which, rude. He had a perfectly valid concern here.

"Calm down, Ronald. No one is leaving you. I'm just stating a fact. He isn't called the Ice Prince of Slytherin for nothing, you know. In this school, half the female population has a crush on Harry, and the other half are attracted to Malfoy. It's like having another Spears vs. Aguilera fan feud, it's disgusting!"

"Huh?" asked Ginny, confused. Neville looked as puzzled as her. Ron didn't even bother to ask. If he did, he'd be sucked into another of her epic rants.

"Never mind," his girlfriend sighed. "Muggle expression."

Luna spoke up, her vacant gaze fixed on Ron. "Have the Snarglypuffs finally let you have a taste of their nectar? It's about time."

Now it was Ron's turn to look confused. Ginny cut in before Hermione could open her mouth, not waiting to hear her reply.

"Snarglypuffs have something to do with acceptance. I don't remember the backstory, so don't ask me!"

Hermione snapped her mouth closed, looking a little hurt. Ron knew that she wasn't about to say anything mean to the blonde girl, not after feeling that bit of guilt, but Ginny didn't know that.

He sent a soft look her way to comfort her. Her softened eyes and the slight upturn of her lips told him that it worked. He gave her a proper smile, revelling in the feeling of accomplishment washing over him.

"Well," he turned back to Luna. "Something like that. I won't deny that I'm just aiming for Harry to get it out of his system and move on, but Harry's never one for doing what I expect from him. Too unpredictable for his own good, that one."

He snorted grumpily. "I'm well aware that I may most likely end up with Malfoy as my brother-in-law."

They stared back at him.

"You are completely right, Ron Weasley," said Luna dreamily. She was staring blankly at a point on the mantle, and Ron was only half sure that she was doing it for dramatic effect. "Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy are meant to be. It is written in the stars."

"Right." Ron didn't try to see the others' reactions to her assertion, because he didn't trust himself not to ruin his tenuous hold on his composure and cry like a baby.

After all, say what they might, no one in the room could deny that Luna was usually always right.

"Huh," said Neville. "And you're not having a breakdown over it? I'm impressed. Hermione is even better for you than I realised."

"As much as I would love to take credit for this, Neville, I didn't have anything to do with it." Hermione replied, amused.

"Woah, Ron, this isn't like you," Ginny, his lovely, favourite sister, mocked him. Merlin, he felt the love. "How'd you get over the horror? I bet it's something embarrassing," she said to the others.

Ron lost it. He had been repeating his mantra since the moment this revelation hit him, and it had been echoing even louder since this morning. He couldn't stop himself from muttering, "Malfoy's better than Snape."

"What'd you say?" he heard Neville ask him. "Couldn't hear you, mate."

"MALFOY'S BETTER THAN SNAPE, OKAY!"

Again with the shocked silence. He was getting tired of having people gawk at him. He could really sympathise with Harry in this moment.

"Well, this has gone horribly wrong," he muttered quietly.

Suddenly, they all started laughing at him. Their laughter was synchronised, yet overlapping each other to produce the most grating sound possible. He could pick out Luna's tickling laughter, and Ginny's crowing, and Neville's guffaws, and Hermione's cute little giggle-snorts, so unlike her dignified personality.

He cringed. The gawking was better than this. He'd rather go back to the gawking.

"I didn't mean to say it out loud!" he squeaked in a manly way. "I'm all over the place today, okay. Cut me a bit of slack, yeah?"

The laughter continued.

"It's Harry! It could happen!" He tried to defend his reasoning.

Ginny laughed even louder at his exclamation. He was really starting to regret the existence of the concept of younger sisters. Merlin knew he did that enough already with his brothers, especially the twins.

Harry was truly his favourite sibling, hands down. Mooning over Malfoy, nonetheless. It was a sad thought indeed.

"Oh, you poor soul!" his sister cried. He doubted her sympathy. "You really like to torture yourself with horrifying mental images!"

Neville snorted out more laughter. Ron snorted too, in his head. She didn't even know the half of it.

He was perfectly alright yesterday, after all. He didn't have any plans of interfering in Harry's relationship before today, content to live in a world of blissful ignorance.

He blissfully ignored Harry's pining stares at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall during every meal. He blissfully ignored Harry's wistful recounts of his conversations with Malfoy, growing increasingly more lovestruck ever since they were partnered together for that bloody term-length Potions assignment. He blissfully ignored the frequent interjections of "do you know what Draco did today?" and "Draco is so smart and funny" and "Draco said this to me, what do you think it means?".

And there he was, blissfully ignoring everything and minding his own business, when fate decided to fuck with him like it was wont to do. He had woken up in the middle of the night, or more accurately, at three in the morning, to take a piss. He had returned to bed, still minding his own business, eager to return to his warm blankets to ward off the November chill, when he heard Harry murmuring in his sleep. His best mate had been plagued by nightmares lately, ever since the Department of Mysteries fiasco, and being the great friend he was, he approached the squirming boy's bed, with the intention of helping. That was when he heard it.

"Draco! Oh, Draco, touch me… please! Nghh!"

Suffice to say, his lovely little bubble of blissful ignorance burst into non-existence, and he had spent the next four hours concocting increasingly explicit scenarios in nauseatingly vivid detail, all starring his best friend and the slimy git of Slytherin. At one point, he had burrowed his head under the blankets, trying to hide from his own thoughts. It hadn't worked.

Apparently, witnessing your best friend having a wet dream could do that to a person.

He had finally gotten out of bed at seven o'clock that morning - cursing, for the first time in his young life, his imaginative hormone-driven teenage mind. It wasn't like he minded his creative imagination when Hermione was the subject of his thoughts. He knew that he'd be able to get her to enact every single one of those fantasies just by dangling the magic phrase - 'for research purposes'. But thinking of Harry and Malfoy along those same kinky lines was enough to kill his boner permanently in one second flat.

So he had woken up Neville, pulled along his girlfriend on seeing her sitting in the common room, accosted Ginny and Luna on their way to breakfast, and herded them all down to the RoR with no thought but to do something about Harry and Malfoy's relationship. There were a lot of things he could overlook, including Harry's mindless fawning over Draco Malfoy's hair and eyes and his… everything, but he could not stomach hearing his best friend moaning Malfoy's name in the dark of the night. If there was any moaning to be happening, it would be in Malfoy's bed, far away from Ron.

He shuddered violently. He didn't know which was scarier - hearing the echoes of his best friend in pleasure in his nightmares for the next week, or the fact that the horrifying four hours he'd spent in bed today had completely killed his appetite for breakfast. That had never happened before. It was surreal.

He shuddered again. Best not to think about it. Looking up, he saw the others staring back at him in a mix of amusement and concern.

"Never mind all that," he said a bit loudly, hoping that the conversation would stop his thoughts from spiralling down there again. He didn't even remember what they were laughing about before, so he decided to just move on.

"We need to come up with a solid plan to get them together. Anyone have any ideas?"

His friends all looked at each other, trading glances. They seemed to come to an agreement, because they didn't question his reasons for his sudden matchmaking attempt. He sighed in relief.

Luna tucked up her bare feet under her knees, settling in with such ease that it was obvious she was used to sitting often in that pose. Hermione looked even more guilty seeing her like this, undoubtedly remembering the time Harry had mentioned the Ravenclaws stealing all her footwear. Her feet were so small and delicate, and she looked so innocent and vulnerable curled up in that position, that he felt his own heart go out to her.

Hermione's eyes softened, looking at the gentle blonde, and he wondered if he was witnessing the exact moment his girlfriend decided to consider Luna Lovegood as a kindred soul and stop thinking of her as a presence innately contradicting every core belief of logic Hermione Granger had ever valued.

He smiled to himself. It was about time.

Luna spoke in her soft voice, oblivious as ever to Ron's philosophical thoughts. "We could get the Nargles to help. They are such sweet creatures, always eager to lend a hand. Their favourite hiding spot is in the mistletoe, so all we need to do is get Harry and Draco under one and let the Nargles do their job."

Hermione spoke up, uncharacteristically quickly. "That is a great idea, Luna! We can definitely do that, but Christmas is still a month away. The staff start decorating the castle only in the second week of December; are we sure that the boys can wait so long?"

"No, I - sorry, they can't." Ron interjected, before anyone else could say otherwise. "We have to try to get them together as soon as possible. The longer we wait to do anything, the more complications might arise. It's Harry, you know what he's like. He might do something stupid."

Hermione gave him her 'we'll talk about this later' look at his slip-up, one that he was all too familiar with. But she nodded her head and agreed with him, and for that he'd tell her whatever she wanted to know.

Luna frowned in concentration slightly, something he had never thought he'd see. "I'm sure we can get the Nargles to compromise a little. They like the Christmas atmosphere quite a bit, but surely they'd agree to inhabit a room or so if we could get the boys to stay in it for a while."

Ginny grinned mischievously at her best friend. "So like, we lock them into a cupboard till they admit that they fancy the pants off each other?"

Luna's eyes widened into what could pass for a horrified look on any other person. "Merlin, no! That is barbaric. The Nargles will never agree to that. We must create a romantic environment to encourage them to reveal their feelings."

Neville had his thinking-face on. "Hmm, we could use this room. The RoR can easily provide the right atmosphere, and we could ask it to not let them out until they tell each other that they like them!"

Hermione nodded, mildly impressed. "Yes, that could work. And if we aren't able to get the RoR to lock them in, we could ask the house-elves to assist. Dobby would be ecstatic to help Harry!"

Ron smiled around proudly. "Now we're getting somewhere! Although, if we do it this way, it would be pretty obvious that it was us. Should we think of a subtler plan too? If Harry knew that we're meddling in his love life, he might get pretty mad. Maybe we can keep this plan as a backup?"

The group frowned, thinking over it.

Ginny perked up. She gathered the loose stands of her bright hair in her hand, twirling it once and letting her hair fall over her right shoulder. Against the direct light of the fire, her red hair glowed bright orange, only but a few shades darker than the blinding brightness of the flames. She grinned, and with the shadows dancing across her face, she looked undeniably terrifying.

"We could get them both sloshed!" she said, excited. "Merlin knows that there are enough parties in Gryffindor itself. I bet even the Slytherins aren't so uptight that they wouldn't have their own parties. We could find a day when the Slytherins are having one, organise an impromptu one in the Gryffindor dorms, and when they're both good and hammered we can orchestrate a meeting between them! They'll reveal their feelings, there'll be drunken kissing, blah, blah, blah and boom! Instant couple." She smirked. "Am I good, or what?"

Ron winced. He could find a couple of holes in Ginny's plan. From the others' expressions, neither were they convinced that Gin's plan was foolproof.

"I doubt the Slytherins let the sixth years have alcohol. They're much too proper for that." Ron started off. "And even if they do, does Malfoy drink? I cannot imagine him voluntarily letting himself lose control in a room full of Slytherins!"

Ginny frowned.

"Ron has a point." Neville's voice was so soft, Ron could barely hear him. Seeing Ginny taking his words into consideration, he sat up straighter, his voice gaining a bit more boldness.

"And even if Malfoy gets drunk, I have my doubts on whether he'd leave the common room. And if he does, how do we know where exactly he'll be?"

Ron thought aloud, "Well, we can use the map to track him, but it'll be hard to do anything if the ferret doesn't leave the Slytherin dorms in the first place."

When he looked around, he found three pairs of eyes looking back in confusion.

"Oh right, yeah!" he exclaimed, slapping his forehead with a wince, "the map. Um, Harry has this map that shows the location of every person in the castle. It's a long story, we'll get into it later. My point is, the map will be a useful aid in our mission, but we still have to take care of everything else."

Luna spoke up. "You can make sure that Harry doesn't drink too much, but we have no control over Draco's intake. If either of them have too much alcohol, they'll attract the Dabberblimps. Once the Dabberblimps are done feasting on their memories, they will forget everything that happened after the party."

Ginny sighed, crestfallen.

"I'm sorry, Ginny," said Luna, sympathetically. "It was a good idea."

Hermione looked at them quizzically. "Why are you all dismissing Ginny's plan? Luna's right, it is a good idea. Of course, I cannot condone undrage drinking in good conscience…"

Ron tuned her out in favour of giving the others blank looks. They shrugged back, just as blankly.

"... and it's wrong and irresponsible, and one should never give in to peer pressure for the sake of popularity or teenage rebellion…"

He mulled over the idea. What was his girlfriend on about? What was she seeing that they weren't?

"... and I don't get why the prefects don't stop those brash idiots from smuggling in all that Firewhiskey. Honestly, there's no need to bring out the alcohol every time we win a Quidditch match!" Hermione stopped abruptly, finally noticing their impatient curiosity.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, for heaven's sake. Haven't you figured it out yet? All you have to do is follow the pattern. What is the only thing we need to coordinate the dates of the parties, to make sure that Mal.. Draco gets appropriately intoxicated, and that we can herd them to a designated meeting spot?"

And then it clicked. We need a Slytherin, Ron realized.

"We need a Slytherin," his girlfriend unknowingly echoed. "Someone on the inside. It would be better if we secure an ally right from the start, because face it, we need more help. The boys are just as stubborn as each other, and we wouldn't be able to get Harry to make all the moves. We need to get them to meet each other half-way, and for that, we need someone from Draco's side."

Ginny's face contorted into a myriad of expressions, before finally settling onto reluctant acceptance. Neville's face was unreadable, a talent Ron suspected he picked up from his grandmother's pureblood lessons. Luna beamed around at them all with a proud smile which strongly reminded him of Dumbledore.

Ron sighed in defeat. There was no way around it, and he knew it. Harry owed him big time.

"How are we gonna get a Slytherin into this? None of them are ever going to agree," he said to his girlfriend wearily.

Ginny huffed. "Yeah, because they're all posh gits with sticks up their arses!"

"Never judge people over assumptions, Ginny. The mist hides many secrets," was Luna's cryptic admonishment.

"How will we go about gaining a Slytherin ally?" Neville's inscrutable look morphed into worry. "They'll never trust us enough to join hands with us!"

Hermione, his lovely, scary Hermione, merely smirked at them all.

"Leave it to me," she said in her smooth, confident voice. "I'll take care of it."

She was wearing his favourite sweater, the one he had bought for her last Christmas - the jade green going so well with her complexion and bringing out her features beautifully. The light of the flames before her highlighted her features, throwing them into dramatic contrast and making her look radiant. Her hair was bushier than ever, eyes bright.

Seamus Finnigan used to loudly proclaim that Hermione could be even hotter than the Patil twins, if only she'd bother to tame that hair. Of course, that was back before they were officially dating, because he knew now that Ron wouldn't tolerate any comments about his girl. He never did agree with Seamus on that, though. Call him crazy, but he always was of the opinion that her wild hair added character. She wouldn't be Hermione Granger without that bushy mane, and he loved that about her.

She looked like such a Slytherin, with her smug smirk and soft jade green sweater, and right then, he couldn't remember a time when he wasn't more attracted to her. He knew that he'd be panicking over this later, but in that moment, he wanted nothing more than to throw her over his shoulder and take her to his bed. Maybe have her smirk at him some more. And maybe he could kiss that smirk off her lips…

"Earth to Ron! Come in, Ron!"

His sister's voice snapped him out of his lovely little daydream. He looked up in time to catch her smirking at him.

"Focus, loverboy! Keep it in your pants a little longer, hmm?"

He refused to blush. He was not blushing. Okay, maybe he was.

"Not a word, Gin. Not a word." It wasn't his greatest comeback, but it was the best he had.

Luckily, Hermione was lost in thought again, and didn't hear Ginny's comment.

"Sooo," Ginny drew out the syllable. "My plan is back on?"

"Yeah, Gin," Ron's lip quirked. "Your plan's back on. As soon as 'Mione handles the Slytherin end, we'll try it out. But we should come up with more too, just in case."

"Alright!" his sister whooped. Her excited shout brought his girlfriend out of her thoughts, and she smiled fondly at his sister. "It'll work, you'll see. Charlie once said that a good drink could solve anything. Remember that, Ron?"

Ron opened his mouth to disabuse her of that notion, but she held up a hand, just like Mum, and stopped him in his tracks. "Shut up, bro, I'm toasting."

Ginny held out her hand in an imitation of holding the neck of a bottle, still bouncing. "To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems!"

Luna gave Ginny a wide smile, the widest he had ever seen from her, letting out her tinkling laugh. Neville and Hermione smilingly put out their hands, saying in unison, "Hear, hear!" Even Hermione seemed to put aside her feelings over the topic in favour of playing along for his sister.

Ron just facepalmed, smiling despite himself.

He tried to school his face when Ginny turned his way, but he knew that she had caught his smile. "You're too young to be toasting," he said. "You are only fifteen, and you are not allowed to drink until you are of age. You hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah," she said. "You do know that I know that you stole Dad's Firewhisky stash with Fred and George when you were fifteen, right?"

Hermione's heated glare could rival the sun. "Ronald Weasley! Is that true? How could you?!"

Ron gulped. "How do you know that?" he asked faintly. His girlfriend's glare turned even more potent at his unspoken admission.

"I just wanted to know what it tasted like, okay! Ithink was young and dumb back then!"

Her glare hardened.

"I'm sorry!" he squeaked, his voice a tad too high-pitched to write it off as masculine. "I won't drink again till I'm thirty!"

He could see Ginny chortling in the corner. The sneaky minx. She got him into trouble on purpose.

"You and I both know that that's never going to happen, Ron Weasley." She rolled her eyes, her features softening, and relief washed over him like a soothing balm. "We're going to talk about this though, mark my words."

"Yes, 'Mione."

At this point, even Neville was biting his lip to hide his laughter. He didn't see what was so hilarious about their dynamic. Clearly, his sister and his roommate were right to never consider the possibility of dating Hermione Granger, because if they did, their dismissal of the value of basic self-preservation would haunt them forever.

He turned to Ginny, wagging a finger at her with the distinct thought that he was channelling his mother. "Don't make the same mistakes I did, Gin. You're my baby sister, I just want to keep you safe."

"Yeah. Like I don't know that." His sister rolled her eyes fondly. "I'm not like you, and I'm smart enough to know where to draw the line. I'm not gonna make your mistakes, Ron."

He couldn't help his reluctant smile. She was right, she really could take care of herself. Wouldn't stop him from worrying, though.

She huffed, her smile turning cheeky. "Besides, you always give in to me eventually. You used to be on about my language all the time, but I wore you down, didn't I? You don't even bother to correct me now. You'll learn to let me do my thing soon enough."

He huffed back. He couldn't deny that she was right. "We'll see," was all he said.

"This is great!" said Neville. "We have two solid plans now, and I think I'm getting another one…"

Ginny perked up. "Yeah? What is it?"

"Hold on, it's still coming."

Ron sat up in his chair as an idea hit him. "Do you know what we need? We need a name."

"What, like a team name?" asked Ginny, confused.

"No, a mission name. Like in those spy movies Dad made us watch when he managed to get that old telly running. It'll be bloody brilliant, don't you think? We can be all spy-ish and mysterious."

"Oh, yes, let's!" Ginny exclaimed. "That would be awesome."

"'Spy-ish' isn't an actual word, Ron," said Hermione with amusement, but she didn't protest the idea, so he took it as a yes.

"I'd like that," said Luna happily. "We can name it something fun, like Mission: Nargle Hunting."

Ginny's nose scrunched up, and Hermione looked even more amused. Ron marvelled at his girlfriend's ability to let go of her past opinions, because not two hours ago, she would have been frowning instead.

He scratched his head, squinting at Luna as he replied, "Erm, that's a good one, Luna, but I was thinking of something a bit more bold. Something like -" His eyes narrowed further in thought, when the perfect name came to him.

He spread his hands out before him, willing his audience to see the brilliance of his suggestion. "Something like, Operation: Matchmaking Best Mates And Moronic Ferrets!"

"Do not call him a ferret, Ronald! We're trying to set him up with our best friend, it's just rude!"

"Okay, okay! Operation: Matchmaking Best Mates And Morons. Operation: M.B.M.A.M for short! Brilliant, isn't it?"

"That's nice too," said Luna thoughtfully. "I like it."

"A bit too long, isn't it?" asked Neville.

"Your acronym skills are rubbish, bro. Hermione's S.P.E.W has more character than yours."

He glared at his sister. "What?" she shrugged mischievously. "You know I'm right!"

Hermione did that little smirk-smile lip movement which he absolutely adored. Merlin, he was so gone for this girl.

"I have it," she said smugly. "Operation: Matchmaker. Simple and accurate."

He cringed. That was not the brilliantly perfect idea he had wanted to hear from her.

The others, however, seemed to love it.

"Oooh, that's even better!" said Ginny, the little traitor.

"Oh yes, that's perfect!" Neville followed up.

Luna just smiled.

Ron ran his hands through his hair. "But guys! It makes us sound like some kind of cupid-y wing people! With the diapers and everything! Do we really want that for ourselves?"

Hermione sighed and shook his head, used to his dramatics.

"Oh, please. Admit it Ron, you're just bummed that we like her idea better." Ginny fake pouted at him.

"It is much more sophisticated," Neville agreed. He hesitated at Ron's look. "Not that yours wasn't good! It's just…" He trailed off, not knowing how to finish.

Ron sighed. "Fine. Operation: Matchmaker it is."

Ginny whooped. "Alright, now we're in business!"

Neville gave him a grinning thumbs-up, and Hermione looked at him with amused sympathy.

Luna was twirling her hair again, silent as ever, and she was officially Ron's favourite person in the room.

Neville leaned forward, hands clasped together. "Okay, now that that's settled, here's my plan…"

Ron sat back to listen to Neville. He'd be happy to let the others use the name they wanted, because he really did appreciate their efforts in this, and he wanted them to be satisfied. But there was no one to stop him from naming their mission whatever he wanted when it was just him.

Operation: Matchmaking Best Mates And Morons was a go.

Did you guys like it? I planned to continue this, but I'm not sure. I'm hoping for your request to tip the scale in favour of a multi-chap ;) If you have any ideas or requests you want me to explore in this fic, don't hesitate to share! I'll try my best to make them happen. Hit me up in the comments section!

May Writing Club Prompts

Challenge: Character Appreciation (Rory Williams from Doctor Who)

Prompt #30: "Yeah. Like I don't know that."

Challenge: Bingo

Prompt # 2.C : Colour: Jade Green

Challenge: The Fabulous World of Comics (Star Wars Kanan First Blood)

Prompt #17: (color) purple

Challenge: Book Club (Maze Runner by James Dashner)

Prompt #2: Newt: (genre) friendship, (phrase) second-in-command, (word) optimistic

Challenge: Showtime (Sound of Music)

Prompt #1: Maria - (word) Unpredictable

Challenge: Amber's Attic (I Must Be Emo Pt. 2)

Prompt #16: "Call me demon. Call me friend. Call me any time."- Gatsby's American Dream, "Your Only Escape"

Challenge: Elizabeth's Empire

Prompt #15: (pairing) RonHermione

Challenge: Bex's Basement (Simpsons Dialogues, Pt. 2)

Prompt #11: "To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems!"

Challenge: Lizzy's Loft (Buttons)

Prompt #4 (Word prompt): Surprise

Challenge: Angel's Archive (Saluting with Memphis in May)

Prompt #29: Turkey (2008) - (dialogue) "I'm all over the place today, okay. Cut me a bit of slack, yeah?"

Challenge: Film Festival (Zombieland: Double Tap)

Prompt #7: (phrase) meant to be

Challenge: Lyric Alley ("New Machines" by Vinyl Theatre)

Prompt #9: With everything defined

Spring Seasonal Challenge

Challenge: Days of the Year

(Prompt) June 19th: Take a Road Trip Day: Write about 3-4 friends interacting in the fic together.

Challenge: Spring Themed Prompts

Prompt #10: (word) gentle

Challenge: Colour Prompts

Prompt #2: (colour) mint

Challenge: Birthstones

Prompt #7: Bloodstone: (dialogue) - "Well this has gone horribly wrong."

Challenge: Earth Element

Prompt #8 (Earth Prompt): (word) rocky

Challenge: Hufflepuff Themed Prompts

Prompt #2 : (trait) dedicated

Challenge: Spring Astrology Prompts

(Prompt) April 22nd: (word) radiant