The pile of crumpled parchments flooding the floor of Ron's room rejoiced as yet another one of their kind joined them. A disgruntled Ron Weasley took out another one of his mini-roll parchments and began to scribble on it with his quill. The scratching of his quill on his paper was drowned out by strong, deciding footsteps on the hallway outside his room. As he had expected, the bald head of his father appeared behind his door.
"Hello there, son. What are you doing?" he beamed, too cheerily for comfort.
"I'm writing," Ron said, trying to make it sound as if it were the most boring thing in the world.
"Homework?" his father asked. Ron gave a not so subtle grunt as Mr. Weasley opened the door fully and let himself in.
"Letters. Dad, is there anything I can do for you?" he asked.
"Nothing, just wanted to know what's going on with my son," he smiled guiltily.
"Mum told you, didn't she?" Ron smiled knowingly.
"Well, you know your mother," his father answered sheepishly.
"Does everyone know?" he asked hesitantly.
"Don't worry, the secret's kept between the three of us. I made sure of that," his father said.
"Good, because the last thing I need is for Fred and George offering to make me love potions," Ron sighed.
"So, what are you really doing, Ron?" Mr. Weasley asked again.
"I'm trying to set up Harry and Hermione, except I don't know how to do that," he grinned awkwardly.
"Hmm, you know I once set up a friend of mine by sending them both singing valentines?"
"I'm not very sure this will work as I have no idea what I'm doing."
"You know I once set up a friend of mine by sending them both singing valentines?" his father said again.
"Dad, I tried to ignore that the first time."
"Okay, well, may I see what you've worked on?" his father asked as he pulled up a chair and sat in front of the desk Ron was working at.
Ron raised his eyebrow at his father. "No."
"Oh come on. I heard you and your Mum had a very lovely bonding in the bath yesterday. Why can't you open up to me?" he complained like a teenager.
"That was because I needed her help," Ron explained.
"Well you obviously don't know what you're going to do now, either."
"Neither do you! You sent singing valentines!"
"That was a long time ago. And it worked!"
"So you suggest I send singing Valentines to them both?" Ron asked sarcastically.
"Of course not," Mr. Weasley answered. Without warning, he grabbed the letter from Ron's hand. He began to read it aloud.
"Dear Harry, I think you're neat. And you're really wicked. Please meet me at the Astronomy Tower on the first night of school. I know it, we're M.F.E.O. Love from your secret admirer." To Ron's horror, his dad started laughing like crazy. "It would be much better if you sent singing Valentines," he managed to say in between bouts of mirth.
"I thought you wanted to help. You're not helping," Ron grumbled.
Mr. Weasley calmed down and looked intently at his son, "You know what the problem is with this letter?"
"Aside from the fact that it sucks?" Ron asked.
"It lacks heart. Tell them the truth, and they'll know where to go from there," he said.
"Do I have to tell them the entire truth?" Ron said, "Because it's pretty embarrassing."
"Trust me, they will thank you for it. And I'm sure that you'll thank them in return someday," Mr. Weasley said with a wink. He left the room to let his son bare his heart to a piece of parchment.
Harry,
How are you doing matey! Hope you're fine, I'm pretty sure Hermione's been checking on you every five seconds. Maybe I should stop this nonsense and get to the point. Do you remember that time when I paid you with Leprechaun gold and you didn't even notice that it disappeared? You said that it was because you lost your wand. So maybe you're right, but I was still angry with you because you had something that I will never have and you couldn't even appreciate it. My anger sort of mellowed in the following days, after all it was still just gold. This time, I'm going give you a heads up on another treasure by your side. She's more valuable than all the galleons in the world, but just like Leprechaun gold, she will disappear if you don't take notice. Maybe I'll even take her from you. Trust me, the first chance I get, I will. I hope you won't lose her because you needed to face You-Know-Who or because you dropped your wand. Because if you do, I won't let it pass and I won't understand either. I do hope you know what I'm talking about because if not, then I will hex all those people who say that you're a lot sharper than I am. After all, there's only one girl in this world who deserves you, who you deserve. Too bad that she had to be the girl I love.
Your friend,
Ron