His Brown Eyed Wonder (Chapter 1)
Prompt by anon: Ron being put under spell/ being given some potion like Amortentia by Fred and George so he would be acting mad about Hermione
Summary: The twins are at it again. Testing a prototype of their brilliant new love potion goes awry. And who else is at the receiving end of that experiment but ickle Ronniekins. Set in OotP.
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his friends do not belong to me.
A/N: It seems I'm incapable of taking prompts at face value. I just have to twist it about. And don't worry, I ship Romione wholeheartedly. No other pairing in this fic is meant to be taken seriously.
The twins had been waiting for the right moment for days now. With the rest of their products tested and ready to be launched, they had one last potion that had yet to be deemed safe for public consumption. The whole plan was in place. They would test their product, completely humiliate their little brother and get him together with the love of his life, all in one go. What could possibly go wrong?
Now all that was left was to find the perfect opportunity. And it presented itself on a silver platter one late wintry evening, just after Halloween.
As always, Harry was away on detention with Umbridge. Hermione had buried her face in a huge book. And Ron, seated across Neville, was actually concentrating for once. Not on his Charms essay, that Hermione had been nagging him to get started on all evening, but on a game of chess. Of all the people, Neville seemed to be the only one who could challenge Ron when it came to chess.
The twins know they are waiting for Harry to return from his detention, and it is perfect. Perfect opportunity. Perfect timing. Perfect setting. They couldn't have asked for better.
Besides, the nearly full glass of pumpkin juice sitting next to him is practically calling out to them. They give each other a meaningful look, and their eyes shining in anticipation, Fred and George sauntered up to their younger brother and stood on either side of him, much to his dismay.
It was all too easy. All they had to do was draw on their extensive library of ammunition against Ron, throw out a few 'ickles', hint at Lavender being rather taken with him and tease him about where his heart truly lied, and both Ron and Neville were distracted enough that slipping in the potion into the pumpkin juice was child's play.
Ron, too busy trying to keep Fred's hands from ruffling his hair was in no position to notice as George quickly emptied the vial of love potion into his glass.
It was quite the performance, the twins decided. Who could ever hope to match their cunning and wit? How were they not sorted into Ravenclaw? Once they had finished congratulating themselves, they situated themselves at a table nearby and waited as patiently as they could for the drama to unfold.
If they had managed to make the potion successfully, then they knew exactly how this would play out. Assuming the drinker of the potion was straight, which they were quite sure Ron was, he would go completely mental about the first person of the female species he laid his eyes on. And as luck would have it, the only female in sight was Hermione, the rest of the students having retired for the night. Ron would be thanking them by the end of it all, they were quite sure.
But first, they would sit back and watch him make a fool of himself.
Neville, he pondered sipping his pumpkin juice slowly, Neville had potential. He wouldn't be as great of a chess player as his grandfather had been, but he had potential. It was hard to find a player that challenged him. After his grandpa had died, the only one who was even remotely capable at chess was Charlie. And once he'd left for Romania, he didn't even get to play chess in the summers.
He thought back to the years before Hogwarts when he'd set up the board on his bed and play against himself while Ginny nagged him to come outside and let her use his broom. She knew better than to fly on her own and incur her mum's wrath. She didn't really like getting Ron into trouble either.
At Hogwarts, he always had plenty of people to play against. But none quite as good as Neville, who seemed to have a natural talent since he didn't even know how the darn game was played until second year when he'd taught him. Ron got easily bored playing with Harry, although he had certainly gotten better over the years. Playing Hermione was most decidedly not boring. However, it wasn't because she was an excellent player. In fact, she was quite possibly the worst chess player he'd ever encountered. It was almost comical the moves she'd make. She had tried very hard at the beginning to be just as good at chess, as she was at everything. In vain. And Hermione didn't like doing things she wasn't good at. As a result, she'd avoid playing as much as possible. Only giving in when he'd practically beg for her to put down her books and play one game with him, please.
His reverie was broken when he heard one of the chess pieces scrape against the board. Neville had made his move after much contemplation. With only a few pieces left on each side, it was beginning to seem as though they might be approaching a stalemate.
Draining the last of his juice, Ron set down the glass and looked at the board. Neville was a great player but he still wasn't as good as Ron. He had anticipated this move, there weren't many that Neville could have made anyway without losing his king. And Ron knew his strategy had worked.
Two more moves, and the game was his.
"Knight to C6"
Every piece on the board played an important role in the battle, but it was always his knight that saved the king. He looked up, triumphantly at Neville who lost his queen in a rather brutal manner.
Funny. Why had he never noticed that little crease that formed in Neville's forehead whenever he was worried? He did look worried all the time after all. It was positively adorable how he'd fret over all every little thing.
Funny. Definitely. That's all it was. Funny and not a little confusing.
Would Neville mind if he reached out and rubbed away the furrow in his brow? Probably. He'd just have to find another way to make it go away.
Five minutes later when Neville resignedly moved his knight and called Check, Ron sent his queen to take a random pawn off the board. The queen had looked at him like he was quite mad, but did so anyway when it became apparent that there were no other instructions forthcoming. Neville too looked at him as though he'd lost his mind.
He looked like he was about to say something, but looking back and forth between Ron and the board, he closed his mouth. It wasn't often that Ron made a mistake in chess. So, perhaps Neville was the one who'd missed something. After all, why would Ron be grinning so broadly if he wasn't confident?
He looked suspiciously at all the pieces, the crinkle in his brow only deepened. Ron frowned.
"Alright, Nev?"
He looked up, startled.
"Uh, me? Ah, yes. Yes," he said. Warily, he ordered his knight to E7, effectively checkmating Ron's king.
"Well, you got me!" Ron said cheerfully.
Neville still looked quite shocked. "Really?"
Ron looked delighted. Neville's brow had definitely cleared although his eyebrows were climbing higher by second.
Wide-eyed, Neville looked around the common room, to see if anyone had witnessed the miracle. By now, Hermione was sending them curious glances and Fred and George looked rather alarmed.
Ron didn't care. "Neville won!" he announced, just as Harry climbed into the common room.
And sat back in his chair as the shocked reactions poured in. Neville, still looking slightly shocked, happily recounted the final moves to Harry and Hermione who both wore incredulous looks on their faces. Fred and George, however, seemed a bit green around the gills.
Ron vaguely wondered what had gotten their knickers in a twist, but was interrupted by Hermione's sharp tone.
"You're taking this surprisingly well."
"Well, just because you're a sore loser-"
"I am not -"
"It doesn't matter," he cut her off. "Look at how happy he is."
Ron nodded to Neville. Hermione glanced at him and looked at Ron as though he'd grown two heads.
"What?" he said, annoyed.
"I'd like to know that too," she huffed. Sending him a suspicious look, she stalked back to her table to gather her books.
"Goodnight, Harry, Neville," she said pointedly before heading up to the girls' dormitories.
Ron rolled his eyes and stood up.
"Great game, Nev," he said, grinning.
"Thanks mate. Did you really not think to protect your king?" he still seemed to be in a state of shock over his victory.
"Ah, it was bound to happen sometime, eh?" Ron said. He looked uncharacteristically happy for someone who had lost his first chess match in seven years.
"Right. I would've never thought it would be me, though!"
"You don't give yourself enough credit, Nev," Ron shook his head at him fondly, as Neville's round face went even more red.
"Uh, yeah. Well, I should go to bed then. I promised Professor Sprout I'd help her feed the Fanged Geraniums," he replied and went off towards the dormitories.
Ron watched him leave, and continued to stare even after he had disappeared up the stairs. He was only pulled out of his reverie when Harry cleared his throat loudly. He turned expected towards him.
"Yes, Harry?"
"You alright?" he asked him dubiously.
"Never better," Ron grinned. "How was detention?"
"How was -? Uh, super. You know Umbridge, she's always a delight," came the sarcastic reply.
"Great," said Ron, completely missing his tone. Harry wasn't sure he even heard what he'd said.
"Uh, right. Are you sure you're all right?"
"Yes, Harry. I'm brilliant," he replied, rolling his eyes. "Besides, didn't you see how Neville's brown eyes lit up when he realized he'd won? It took a while before it actually sunk in, but it was worth it."
"What?" Harry looked at him blankly, raising an eyebrow.
"What?" replied Ron. He seemed slightly irritated.
"Never mind," said Harry, shaking his head. "We should probably get to bed."
Harry was sure that the loss of the chess match had affected Ron even if he wasn't willing to show it. Ron agreed and they gathered up the chess pieces. Dragging their heavy book bags and the chess set, they climbed up the stairs with Harry complaining about his detention and Ron absent-mindedly nodding along.
Neither of them noticed the wide-eyed twins sitting at a nearby table in silent shock.
Fred broke the silence first.
"It's not necessarily bad," he said.
"Right. Funny even," replied George.
"Just not in the way we expected," his twin agreed.
"Yeah. So it'll take them a few more years to figure it out."
"And we might just have extended that time by a couple extra ones."
"But they'll get there eventually."
"She did seem suspicious though," Fred reminded George uncomfortably.
"Yes," replied George after a heartbeat. "But she has no reason to suspect us."
"And we can fix it before anyone catches on, really," Fred seemed to be trying to convince himself rather than his brother.
"Right. Of course we can!" George assured him.
"Or, we could just let it play out," Fred suggested slyly.
George looked at him skeptically.
"It's like you said, she has no reason to suspect us. No one does."
"Well, she actually has plenty of reason to suspect us. But when have we ever let that stop us before?"
As much as they feared Hermione, the twins never could resist a good prank.
"So it's decided then."
"Sure looks like it."
And with identical looks of mischief on their face, they headed off to their respective beds.
A/N: This was supposed to be a one-shot, but it got away from me. It might be a two or a three chapter deal.