Title: The Plan?
Authors: dukebrymin and KatWoman8
Rating: PG
Words: 998
A/N: Done as a collaboration between me and KatWoman8, for a prompt on hpgw_drabbles LiveJournal community. Note that it had to be no longer than 1,000 words, hence the pace of the story. Special thanks to rosiekatriona and sassyfrass_kerr for being wonderful betas.
Summary: Fed up with Harry's lack of romance, Ron and George have a plan. But what happens when Ginny finds out about it? AU – canon compliant up through Gryffindor winning the cup in HBP. Remember Harry kissing her, then? Yeah, didn't happen here. He just hugged her back. But, he wanted to kiss her….

oooooooooo

Ginny Apparated into the backroom of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Practice had run long so she figured she'd let her brothers buy her dinner before heading home to her own lonely flat. The store was closed, so she tried their flat upstairs.

Finding it empty, she decided to see if Harry was available. Heading for the fireplace, she spied several wrapped candies on the table. She grabbed one and started to unwrap it, then saw George's handwritten notes. Reading them, her anger ignited.

She duplicated the candies so that her brothers wouldn't suspect anything, then took a handful of Floo powder.

As she spun into Harry's flat, she came face-to-face with him. "Harry, don't eat—"

oooooooooo

Harry heard the Floo, turned quickly, and thanked his lucky stars. It was time to show Ginny the incredible depths of the love he felt for her. He reached out, pulled her to him, and kissed her for all he was worth. He didn't know if she felt the same, but he wasn't going to waste the opportunity. Kissing her was beyond anything he'd ever imagined, and he rejoiced as she started kissing him back. He felt her body soften against his, but then, just as he was about to deepen the kiss, she pushed him away.

"You need to eat these," she said.

Was his breath that bad? "But—" he stammered, intelligently, as she pushed something into his mouth.

As the love potions began to fade, his spirits came crashing down. He wasn't sure he'd ever be able to screw up the courage to kiss her like that again. If only she felt the same way about him. "I'm sorry, Ginny, I never would have—"

"I know, Harry," she said, with something that looked, incomprehensibly, like regret on her face. "I stopped at the store and saw some of my brothers' notes. They've created a new love potion that George thinks is better than Amortentia, a more basic love potion mixed with Felix Felicis. They decided to give you the Amortentia to point you to Hannah and the new potion to point you to me to see which was stronger. I saw the antidotes and brought them, just in case."

Harry nodded. "I was out of the Ministry all day, and Hermione had dropped off a case file from Kingsley. I thought she had left the candies."

A slow grin spread over Ginny's face. "I think we need to teach them a lesson. Maybe Neville and Hannah will want to help."

Harry had a hard time paying attention to Ginny's plan. He was sure it was a great one, and would prove absolutely devastating to— was it George that was the target?— but mostly he was remembering that kiss. Sure, he'd imagined kissing Ginny before— after all, he'd been harboring a secret longing for her for ages— but never in his wildest fantasies had he thought it would feel so wonderful. It was heartbreaking now that he knew just how good kissing her felt. His desire certainly hadn't decreased with the antidote, and he couldn't help but wish she felt the same.

Get a grip! he firmly told himself. She'll never feel like that for you.

"... what do you think?" Ginny finished.

Harry jumped. "Um, that's... great!" He could tell she wasn't fooled. "What was my part again?" he asked sheepishly.

She grimaced at him. "Why don't we go have dinner and discuss it with Neville and Hannah?"

oooooooooo

Neville's morose entry captured George's attention immediately.

"What's the matter, Nev?"

"Hannah dumped me for Harry. Said she'd never thought she'd get a chance with him, but now…." He slumped onto a stool. "I thought he liked Ginny—"

George blanched. "Ron!" he yelled. "Get down here, now!"

When he appeared, George pulled him into a huddle, and soon, Ron's face was just as white as George's.

"Go on," George whispered, "he's your friend!"

"Neville, um, don't worry about Hannah— I think we can sort things out...."

Neville worked hard to suppress a grin as Ron fumblingly tried to defend their actions regarding Harry, Hannah, and Ginny. Eventually tiring of the stuttering, he waved them off, mentioned something about a bottle of Firewhiskey, and shuffled out, leaving behind two very worried Weasleys.

oooooooooo

Ron and George squared their shoulders before heading into the pub. Harry was at the bar; Hannah fawning over him. Ron shoved the candies at him. "Eat these."

Harry never took his eyes off Hannah as she took the sweets, unwrapped them, and fed them to him.

"Well?" George asked, anxiously, when nothing changed.

Ron looked helplessly at George and shrugged. "I don't understand… it should have worn off by now. And if it hadn't, the antidote— "

George shook his head. "We shouldn't have mixed them. We should have given him one and recorded the effects; then tried the other."

"What you shouldn't have done was use Harry as a test subject!"

They turned to face Ginny, her wand drawn, her hand shaking. The whole bar was staring at them.

"We thought our new potion was better and— Harry and you— You've been in love with him—"

No! Ginny looked at Harry; his mouth dropped open. She spun on her heel and raced for the door.

It took a few seconds for Harry to process what he'd heard before rushing after her. He caught her by the arm. "Is it true?"

Ginny started to deny it, but she couldn't. She nodded, tears glimmering in her eyes. She heard him whisper; she couldn't quite make out the words, but thought they might be I wish I had known, before he pressed his lips against hers. Ginny melted against him as she threaded her fingers through his hair. And the previous, potion-induced, kiss faded into insignificance.

The Weasley brothers stared out the window at the couple snogging in the middle of Diagon Alley, oblivious to everything.

"What just happened?" Ron asked, confused.

George shrugged and shook his head, "I have absolutely no bloody idea."