And Life Goes On - Part 5

She simply rolled her eyes. "You weren't very nice to him," she said to the room at large, although she didn't appear concerned over it.

"Harry hates him," Ron replied, as if that settled everything.

"None of us liked Jean-Luc," Harry said indignantly. "I think Fred and George were planning to prank him, although I don't know if they ever did."

"They didn't," Ginny said, picking a piece of lint off the skirt of her robes.

"How do you know?" Ron asked.

"Because Bill warned them off doing it. Jean-Luc was making Harry jealous, and Bill thought it was the best thing to push him past his nobility complex. Fleur put him up to it, actually," Ginny replied, futilely trying to control her grin.

"So it was a conspiracy?" Harry asked, dumbfounded at the lengths all the Weasleys would go in order to set him up.

"Of sorts," Ginny replied, shrugging. "Don't mess with us Weasleys."

"What's this I hear of Weasleys being messed with? That just can't be allowed," Fred said as he entered room.

His robes were torn and dirty, and he'd magically stuck flowers in odd locations to mask the destruction. Of course, the plan had failed miserably and only enhanced the ruin. Somehow, Harry suspected that was exactly what Fred had intended.

"It's wrong on so many levels," George replied in that odd way of sharing the same thought with his twin.

"What are you gits doing here? I thought you were busy groping all of Fleur's friends," Ron asked, sounding both disgusted and proud of his elder brothers.

A wave of exhaustion flowed over Harry once again, and he leaned back against the couch and shut his eyes as he listened to his friends banter.

Fred sighed dramatically. "So many women...

"...so little time," said George.

"Why didn't the two of you get your own dates for this wedding, anyway?" Ginny asked. "I'm certain there must be some witches somewhere who haven't been warned off yet."

"Dates?" asked Fred in mock horror. "Why would we want to bring dates to an event where there would be many beautiful French women..."

"French Veela women," George added.

"...who hadn't yet had the pleasure of being introduced to us. We were willing to sacrifice ourselves for their greater benefit," Fred said.

"Good grief," Ginny said, rolling her eyes and elbowing Harry in the ribs. He'd started to drift off again. He opened his eyes owlishly wide and tried to focus on the conversation.

"What about Angelina?" Hermione asked. "I'd thought that you two were seeing each other."

"Angelina?" Fred asked, blinking. "We went to Yule Ball together back in sixth year, but as far as I know it wasn't a lifetime commitment. If it were, technically you should be sitting on that couch with Victor Krum."

Ron's expression soured instantly, and Hermione's cheeks flushed red.

"Oh, let's not do this again," Ginny said with a tired sigh. "What are you two up to, anyway? You had extremely guilty expressions on your faces when you came in here."

"Us? Guilty expressions?" Fred asked in mock horror.

"We'll have you know, sister dear, that we've perfected the art of covering our guilt with expressions of nonchalance," George replied, scowling.

"We did not appear the least built guilty," said Fred.

"Uh, huh," Ginny replied drolly.

"We were merely avoiding Mum's wrath. She's quite put out at the moment, because it appears the nightingales from the wedding ceremony have not only followed us here, but have also taken an odd liking to Percy's head," George replied with a mischievous grin.