This was the first time that Ron Weasley could recall ever dreading the arrival of his best friends at the Burrow for the final weeks of summer. Not only were Harry and Hermione discovering new levels to their relationship, and subsequently admitted them to Ron, but he had inadvertently broke his promise to both of them. Without realizing what he'd done, Ron had sent confidential letters to the wrong recipients. The resulting replies were enough to make him run for the hills and never return but with both of his best friends being a witch and wizard, they could find some way to track him down and kill him anyway.
There was, however, a light at the end of the tunnel. Ron's summer began with extraordinarily nasty nightmares every night since the battle he had taken part in at the Department of Mysteries. Whatever those brain-like creatures were they seemed to invading his dreams and causing him to loose massive amounts of sleep. With the help of Harry and his mother, he'd gotten help with dreamless sleep potions. But to Ron, this wasn't the bread and butter of his salvation. Over the course of his reoccurring nightmares a certain classmate of his was slowly taking over the show. The last time he'd dreamed of her, he found that he didn't want to let her go.
These newfound feelings could be attributed to the fatherly advice he'd recently received. Who knew that his father was desperately afraid of Ron's mother when they first met? Ron certainly knew the power she had over her family, but didn't know about this sordid past. After the talk with Arthur Weasley, Ron's dreams changed and he'd realized something. He was falling for the one girl that he was afraid of most. It wasn't Hermione Granger who he'd had a schoolboy crush on since his first year at Hogwarts, but a girl he'd just met the year previous: Luna Lovegood.
Ron sat on the edge of his bed re-reading the letter that he'd written. By the standards his father's letters to his mother the romance level was next to nothing. Granted, he'd just realized that he was falling for the girl and if his dreams were any indication, she had already fallen for him. Being as dense as he was about the feelings of others, at least without seeing them blatantly display their affections for one another in front of him or outright say what their feelings were, he wanted to make sure that he wasn't overstepping his bounds. After all, he'd only just met Luna, in the scheme of things, and he wasn't going to make the first move without being sure.
With a deep sigh, he looked once more at the letter. Can't be too careful. He thought with a shrug.
My Dearest Luna,
I don't know what it is about you, but ever since we've met, I have to admit that you've frightened me. I didn't know exactly why until just recently. I know this may seem crazy but please hear me out before jumping to any conclusions?
I wanted you to know, first of all, that I've been having nightmares about those brain-creatures from the Department of Mysteries. They were really bad until after we ran into each other in the Leaky Cauldron. After that, they started to change. At first, you started to take the place of them, instead of their tentacles it was your arms and eventually, you supplanted them completely. After that happened, I have to admit that I've been able to deal with those dreams much better. Actually, I find that I look forward to them now.
Luna, I know we've only known each other for a short time, as compared to how long I've known Harry anyway, but I was wondering if you'd like to go out on a date sometime? If you don't want to, I'd fully understand. Well, I hope you're enjoying your summer and I hope to hear from you soon.
Yours truly,
Ron Weasley
Ron blushed slightly as he finished the last paragraph. "I sound like a complete git." He said under his breath. He groaned and rolled the parchment into a neat cylinder before he could change his mind. With a gentle poke, he woke Pigwidgeon from some type of owl dream that the miniature bird was enjoying and whispered quietly. "Pig, I need you to deliver a letter before I change my mind."
At the words deliver and letter, Pig's eyes shot open. If owls could smile, Ron would have seen the brightest, widest, grin that had ever graced the face of an owl. All Ron could hear was a small, irritating bird twittering and hooting madly as it tried to take off on its delivery.
Ron was able to get the letter tied to the bird's trembling leg and after Pigwidgeon shot out the window he felt his stomach turn upside down. He looked at his clock and groaned miserably.
"I'd almost forgotten that they're going to be here in less than 8 hours ..." He groaned again and changed into a clean set of pajamas before he climbed into his bed. With any luck, it will be Luna and not some throbbing, gray brain that I see tonight ... His worries forgotten, Ron quickly fell asleep.
Much to his pleasure, the Department of Mysteries was not the setting of this night's travels. He found himself sitting happily by the lake on the Hogwarts' grounds, the sun was just rising and a laughing Luna sat next to him. Ron smiled in his sleep and pulled his pillow to him in a strong hug and giggled goofily as he dreamed of the tickle fight he and Luna were having.
The night went by quietly and with a loud bang Ron fell out of his bed and onto the hard floor with a thud.
"What the bloody hell was that?" He looked around the room groggily and saw a sleeping owl lying halfway in its cage. The letter that was attached to his foot didn't fit through the bars and the exhausted owl decided to stop fighting and drop where it stood.
Ron chuckled as he wiped the sleep from his eyes and untied the letter. "Pig, wake up! Get on your perch!" It was no use, the small bird was out like a light and no amount of nudging was going to wake it up.
Ron shook his head and yawned as he unrolled the letter.
Ronald,
Your letter was an absolute surprise! I can't tell you how sorry I am that you were plagued with nightmares because of what happened. I can only say that I am deeply touched that I helped you, even in a small way, to get over them. I have noticed that you were a particularly skittish person, but I had no idea that you actually felt anything for me! It warms my heart to know that you would think enough of me to ask me on a date! I can only and always say yes, my dear Ronald. Whenever you're ready, owl me and I'll meet you wherever you'd like!
Love always,
Luna
PS: My summer was rather interesting! Dad and I went on a safari to find the red-breasted coodleboar but we were unsuccessful. We did, however enjoy a wonderful trip to Australia!
The smile on Ron's face wiped away any worries that he may have had. All his troubles seemed to flow away from him as he read the letter over and over. The door to his room burst open, much to his chagrin, and Harry caught him doing a victory dance on top of his bed. Ron fell backwards and nearly tumbled out the window but was luckily saved by his best friend.
"Oh, I'm not going to let you get off that easy, Ron." Harry said through gritted teeth. "Tell me you didn't send a letter to Hermione telling me to talk to her ..." He wheeled around at the young woman who had just burst into the room.
"RON! You better have some answers! If you sent Harry a letter telling me how much I like him ..." Hermione stopped abruptly and her face immediately blushed the deepest shade of red that Ron had ever seen.
"Oh, H-Hi, Harry ..." She said nervously.
Harry matched Hermione's facial color perfectly. "H-Hi ..." He stammered in reply. He found the floor to be rather interesting suddenly. "S-So ..."
"So ..." Hermione replied with a sudden interest in her shoes.
"Well, now that it's out in the open, there's nothing to hide, now is there?" Ron said with all the cheerfulness he could muster. A little voice in the back of his head told him to run for all he had but the fear of his two best friends kept him rooted to the spot.
Harry and Hermione glanced at one another and wordlessly agreed to put this off until later. They turned back on Ron and he could barely hold himself together.
"Ron, tell me what happened." Harry said very evenly. Hermione joined him and accentuated the request with a glare that would have killed him.
"Well, it was an accident, really ..." He stammered quickly. "Pig was stuck in such a sugar high that I sort of dropped the letters and sent them to the wrong people by mistake ..." He laughed nervously but gulped when his two friends didn't seem to find his story funny.
Hermione looked at him strangely and he saw the reflection in her eyes change from that of unbridled fury to detective mode. "There's something fishy about all this." She said quietly.
"What?" Ron asked incredulously. "It's the truth! I accidentally mixed the letters up!"
Harry glared at him and Ron immediately got the hint. With a peep of fear he settled back in his chair and didn't say another word.
"What are you talking about?" Harry asked quietly.
"About a week ago, I got a letter from a 'secret admirer.'" She explained quietly. "For a minute I thought it was from you, Harry ..."
"What?!" Harry looked at her incredulously. "I wouldn't send you a letter like that, especially with Death Eaters running around loose!"
Hermione nodded. "I know, but the handwriting was really familiar. It was almost as if someone forged your handwriting."
Something seemed to click with Harry. "Wait a minute ... I got one too. I thought it was from you but the T's and R's were a little off."
Ron blanched as his two friends turned their attention to him again. He gulped involuntarily and glanced towards his bedroom door.
"Oh, you're not getting away ..." Hermione said evenly as she closed the door.
"Did you bring Dean into this, Ron?" Harry asked in an equally even tone.
Someone, ANYONE, send the killing curse my way and get it over with ... He thought desperately.
"I thought so." Hermione said with a scowl. "Ron, how could you do that to us?"
"Don't tell me that you got us all together that weekend to try and trick us as well?" Harry asked incredulously.
Ron lowered his head and nodded quietly.
"Why? Didn't I ask you not to say anything?" Harry snapped out. "I wanted to think things through!"
"You needed to think things through?" Hermione asked quietly.
Harry turned to her and winced at the hurt look on her face. "Hermione, not like that." He said quickly. "I've never had these kinds of feelings for anyone before and I wanted to make sure I wasn't imagining it." He admitted quietly.
Hermione seemed to brighten a little but saw the smirk on Ron's face and went to her previous mood. "Don't think you're getting out of this that easily, Ron!"
Ron sighed and stood up. "Listen, I know that you two didn't want me to tell how you felt about each other and consciously, I didn't." He said quietly. "But it's out there now and there's nothing anyone can do about it. It's about bloody time you two got over your insecurities and worked it out anyway." He felt his courage rising though he knew that sometime in the near future he'd get hexed to high heaven. "I've watched you two over the past two years and I didn't see it at first. But now that I know, it's been bloody obvious since Skeeter wrote those articles about the two of you."
"What?" Harry asked incredulously. Hermione blushed slightly but didn't say anything.
"Oh come off it, Harry." Ron said with a slight grin. "I've seen how you look at her and how her eyes light up when you're with her. Anyone around you two could tell! Look at Krum and Cho!"
At the mention of the Ravenclaw seeker, Hermione seemed to bristle a bit but with a glance at Harry she immediately seemed to calm down.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get dressed and ready for chores. I'm not sorry that you two found out because after I did, I couldn't think of a better person for either of you." Grabbing his clothes, Ron stormed out of his bedroom and shut the door before either of them could get another word in edgewise.
WHEW! He felt his knees shaking from the adrenaline that had been coursing through his veins and before he could be stopped in the hall by either of his best friends, he bolted to the bathroom and locked the door.
To Ron's amazement, there were no toilet flushing retaliations or any further argument out of Harry and Hermione. They'd actually gone for a walk to the makeshift Quidditch pitch on the top of the hill and were still gone when he'd finished de-gnoming the garden.
"So, how bad was it?" Ginny asked quietly from the door.
"They were mad, and they figured out that I asked for Dean's help, but after I told them off, I haven't heard a peep out of either of them."
"Well, only time will tell if they get together or not ..." Ginny said with a smile. "But I know something that you don't."
"What's that?" Ron asked quizzically.
"Hello, Ronald." A familiar dreamy voice said from behind him.
Ron jumped at the unexpected visitor but after he regained his senses he couldn't help but smile sheepishly. "H-Hi, Luna ..." He blushed and immediately looked to the ground. Ginny's jaw dropped to her chest and her eyes went wide in disbelief.
Luna blushed slightly at his reaction and smiled softly. "I don't live that far away so I thought it'd be a nice day to see when you wanted to go out."
Ginny was back on her heels in shock and when Ron noticed her reaction he let out a nervous laugh.
"I sort of asked Luna on a date ..." He stammered nervously. He looked to Luna and smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, Luna, but after what went on this morning, I forgot that you'd said yes ... I hope you're not mad."
Luna shook her head. "I talked to Harry and Hermione on the way over." She said matter-of-factly. "They were as surprised as Ginny when I told them you'd sent me a letter last night." She smiled faintly as she remembered the surprise she'd gotten. "They told me what happened and I can't say that I blame them for being upset."
Ron nodded. "It was an accident." He said under his breath. "But they needed to know and accident or not, they do now."
"Well, I guess we can forgive you." Harry said as he and Hermione made their way up the path to the house. They were holding hands and their cheeks were a little rosy.
Ron sighed in relief. "Look, I'm sorry ..."
"It's ok, Ron." Hermione said with a slight grin. "You'll get yours sooner or later."
Ron blanched and Harry shook his head. "Listen, why don't we get some lunch? It's been a pretty eventful morning and I haven't had much to eat since I ran out of the supplies you guys sent me."
"Harry, we need to get you out of that awful place." Hermione said in a huff as Harry guided her into the Burrow.
A smile slid across Ron's face as he watched his best friends disappear into the kitchen hand-in-hand and it grew even wider when he turned back to the girl who was humming next to him.
"Do you want to stay for lunch, Luna?" He asked with a hopeful smile.
The perpetual dreamy look finally left Luna's face and she smiled when he offered his hand to her. "I'd really like that, Ron." She said quietly.
She didn't call me Ronald? He thought with shock.
"You do prefer Ron, don't you, Ronald?" She asked with a lopsided grin.
Ron laughed as he opened the door for the perplexing girl. "Ronald works just as well ..." He finally said with a wide smile. "But my close friends usually call me Ron."
Ron waited for his sister to come around and finally after she joined the others he closed the door quietly behind him. Laugher rang out from the kitchen of the Weasleys' house as lunch went on and as time always does when you're enjoying life to its fullest the afternoon raced along at a breakneck pace.