The Simple Magic of Water by Nox
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Overview: R/L. Humour/Romance. One-shot. Hogwarts, 7th Year. A sequence of vignettes around Ron's inability to ask a girl to the Graduation Ball. Among those helping out is Luna, who, as always, has an unorthodox way of giving a hand.
Rating: PG-13 for risque humour.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and other related trademarks and copyrighted materials are property of their respective owners. Use of such properties is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute a claim on such properties.
Authour's Notes: These scenes came to me over one weekend as a series of vignettes, which I loosely tied together into the story you're about to read. (This is an edited version, with some small cleanups to the text.)
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At the Gryffindor table, Ron was explaining his latest problem to a select group of friends. The Graduation Ball was coming up and he desperately wanted to ask a certain girl - which witch, he wouldn't say - but was having a difficult time summoning the courage and words to ask her and not make a complete ass of himself.
Luna, who was sitting at the next table idly twirling a carrot between her fingers while skimming her Transfiguration book, overheard the conversation from the Gryffindor table. Without a word, she invited herself over and took a seat across from Ron, next to Harry. Over the past two years associating with Harry and his circle of friends, her company was not unexpected. She poured out a glass of ice water from a nearby pitcher.
'... So, I'm asking for your patience while I try and work through this,' Ron was saying, 'I know I'll bother you to death about it, but if you have any ide-'
Splash!
Ron stopped abruptly when Luna tossed the glass of ice water into his face. Everyone stared at her, including Ron, who was too shocked to be angry. Luna was looking only at Ron with characteristic serenity.
'All right, why did that happen?' said Ron, wiping the water away dripping from his face.
'Shock treatment,' said Luna.
'Shock treatment?'
'Leave it to me, Ronald. I'll knock that block right out of you.'
'By throwing cold water in my face?' said Ron incredulously.
'Step one is to surprise you with the unexpected. There won't be any more water.'
'Thank Merlin for that. What's step two?'
Splash!
Luna snatched up Harry's water and proceeded to toss that into Ron's face as well. The Gryffindor Keeper was now thoroughly soaked; the group sitting around them broke into laughter at the scene playing out before them. Luna, of course, retained her composure, her steady gaze still on Ron.
'I thought there wasn't going to be any more water,' said Ron, surprisingly calm about the whole thing.
'Was it not surprising and unexpected?'
'Yes. Yes, it was.'
---
The day after the water incident in the Great Hall found Ron being harped on about his studies by Hermione, much to his displeasure. It was Friday, for Merlin's sake! Ron was paying very little attention, with his mind on Quidditch, the Graduation Ball - anywhere but on Hermione.
'Ron, you're not taking me seriously,' Hermione accused.
'What's to take seriously? Don't worry about it, Hermione, I'll be fine,' Ron answered dismissively.
A huffing Hermione stalked off past Luna, who was coming in the opposite direction towards Ron. She blinked at Hermione's back, then to Ron with an arched brow.
'She's just doing it to get a rise out of me,' explained Ron.
'Is it working?' said Luna with a curious look.
'Actually. Yeah. Yeah, it is.'
A strange shift came over Luna's eyes; they trailed downwards towards the crotch of Ron's pants, then back up to Ron's face with a mysterious twinkle.
'Lucky her.' With that, she kept on walking, an enigmatic smile just touching her lips.
It took Ron a moment to realize just what Luna had said. Dumbstruck, he just stood there staring at Luna's departing form, his jaw somewhere in vicinity of his chest. Lower chest.
Harry spotted him and jogged over. 'Listen, mate, we should get to the pitch, I have some- Er, are you feeling all right?' asked Harry, seeing Ron's peculiar expression.
'No,' said Ron, sounding confused even giving than answer.
'Well, come on, Quidditch now,' said Harry, pushing whatever was bothering Ron out of his mind. Ron stumbled along, trying to shake his confusion.
---
Harry wandered down to the Great Hall that Saturday for lunch, a few minutes before it was to be served. He found Ron there, glancing through various scraps of parchment which Harry knew to be various lines he was hoping to use on this mysterious date for the Ball.
'Wotcher, Ron?' said Harry, in a remarkable imitation of Tonks.
'Trying to find why I was sorted into Gryffindor in the first place,' he said miserably.
Harry took a seat next to Ron with an amused, but sympathetic, grin. 'You need to relax. It'll come.'
'You had to write most of these up for me.'
'Well, it's not the first time someone else did your homework for you.'
'I feel like I've been cursed or hexed. I'm tense, I can't think straight,' Ron sighed.
'Ron, relax. Take your time, drink your pumpkin juice and relax. In the meantime, we have Slytherin to beat in a couple of hours.'
'You're right,' said Ron with a visible attempt to calm himself. 'Quidditch now, this later.'
In his attempt to calm his friend, Harry didn't see that Luna had wandered into the Great Hall carrying her oversized lion-head hat. Ron was downing a goblet of pumpkin juice when Luna passed behind him and tapped her hat with her wand.
The lion head roared, causing everyone in the Hall to jump. Ron sprayed his mouthful of pumpkin juice all over the table and onto the wall from surprise. Gripping the table, he slowly turned with a strong desire to strangle Luna.
'Did it work?' she asked innocently.
'Luna, I don't have hearing problems. This kind of block doesn't go away just because you-'
Splash!
Before Ron could finish, Luna snatched up another glass of water and tossed it into Ron's face. Beaming a smile at Ron, she turned and continued her way to the end of the Ravenclaw table for her own lunch. Harry, on the other hand, was beside himself with laughter, clutching a stitch in his side from laughing so hard.
Once again, a dripping Ron was left speechless.
---
The weekend passed quite well for Gryffindor with the legendary final match between Gryffindor and Slytherin going their way. It was Harry Potter's last match as a Hogwarts student, so the anticipation was high for a 'final showdown' between Harry and Malfoy. Harry caught the Snitch at the start of the second hour after a brutal and close game in a spectacular aerial somersault that Malfoy wasn't expecting. Gryffindor went from being down by 10 points, to winning, 300-160.
Next Monday, after much celebration, butterbeer and fireworks, Hermione was resolutely dragging them back to their NEWT studies. She insisted they meet her after lunch in the Hall, saying something about their Astronomy class presentation.
Ron and Harry were already at the Gryffindor table still discussing the match when Hermione, trailed by Luna, came into the Great Hall. Hermione called out to them.
When Ron looked up, he noticed Luna and scrambled to retrieve every goblet, cup, glass and bowl filled with anything liquid. 'Stay away from me!' he warned, pointing his finger at Luna.
Hermione just blinked, having been absent for the entire water incident and looking at Ron if he'd gone daft. Harry was snickering, and it was only by seeing his gaze behind her that she realized that Ron was speaking to Luna.
For her part, Luna merely smiled at Ron and breezed on by.
Sitting down across from both of them, Hermione was all business, unfurling a scroll. 'Harry, for our Astronomy presentation, your bit on eclipses says, "You can tell when an eclipse is about to finish by the protruding solar disc."'
'Yeah?' said Harry blankly.
'You misspelled disc on the oral report. You forgot the "s". Read this out loud for me, you'll see.' She handed over the scroll, tapping the relevant portion.
'"Eclipses last only a few minutes. You can tell when an eclipse is about to finish by the protruding solar dic-" Uh-oh!' Harry's eyes widened as he held out his hand for a quill, which Hermione handed to him.
'My next bit was, "Let's look at the diagrams."' said Harry, scratching out the offending error.
'You might've got us a detention, yes,' Hermione said wryly.
After another walk-through of their report, in which Ron participated minimally, Hermione's irritation finally got the better of her. 'Ron! Are you even going to pretend to pay attention to us?' she snapped.
Ron's attention was over at the Ravenclaw table; in particular, to a slender blonde figure twirling her wand between her fingers while reading. 'OK, that's it,' said Ron, standing up.
'What's it?' said Harry, looking up quizzically at Ron.
'I can't stand it any more,' said Ron, not paying the least attention to Harry or Hermione. He strode down the length of the table while Hermione called out 'Ron! Ron!' until he was standing over by Luna. She blinked up at him with a smile.
'Hello, Ronald,' Luna smiled at him tranquilly.
'Luna, will you go to the ball with me?' Ron asked bluntly.
For the first time ever, Ron saw momentary confusion in Luna's wide, silvery-grey eyes. 'What?'
'Will you go to my Graduation Ball with me? I figure it's the only way I'm going to have a partner and stay dry until then.'
'All right, Ronald,' said Luna with a quiet, but pleased, smile.
It took a moment for the answer to filter through to Ron. 'OK. Good. Well, er, see you around, then.' And with an awkward smile back, he turned and reclaimed his seat with his best friends.
Both Harry and Hermione just looked at the silly grin Ron was wearing. Ron finally asked, 'What?' at the extended silence.
'What just happened?' That was Harry sounding confused.
'Oh. I just asked Luna to the ball.'
'And?'
'She said yes, so, that problem I was having before ... you can forget about it now.'
'What problem?' said Hermione, looking completely lost.
'Ron was having a problem finding the guts to ask a certain girl to the ball. No, I don't know who,' said Harry pre-emptively at Hermione's unasked question. A thought struck him. 'It wasn't Luna, was it?'
'No,' Ron answered with a headshake.
'Then who was it?'
'Nevermind.'
'Ron-'
'Nevermind! Astronomy here, right? I'm looking at Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus?' said Ron, trying to shift the discussion.
'More like Luna's,' Harry sniggered.
'Harry!' said Hermione, looking scandalized. 'Yes, Ron, I'll finish the last two planets. So, we just need to organize these charts like so...'
As Hermione plowed relentlessly into the remaining parts of their project, Ron and Luna exchanged furtive glances across the Hall. Ron grinned at her, feeling confident about the Ball for the first time since it was announced.
Finis.