A/N: First R/L fanfiction ever, so please be nice and give constructive criticism. I thank Caina, my beta, for this story. Happy reading!
You'll Be All Right
By Ladie-A
(1/3)
The sun set in the late evening and the residence of the Burrow were engaged in the midst of supper; all except one young redheaded boy. Ordinarily, the allurement of food was all that was needed to distract Ronald Weasley. The more he attempted to concentrate on his half-empty plate of chops and steaming vegetables, the more he looked inquiringly at the only empty chair tucked in neatly and unnoticeably by the long brown furnished dinning table. It was rare to find an empty chair in the Burrow; a commonly known place owned by the Weasley family.
But this summer the Weasley's home had become some-what of a social gathering. With the regards of a series of events that occurred two weeks prior, the Burrow had also become a safe haven. Last summer, this would have been the last place any one would call safe but after Albus Dumbledore's death, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy, there was no place secure or dependable enough to withstand the powers of one evil man. The whole of Britain's Wizarding community felt that their only alternative was to return to their own homes and put on a brave front.
For young Ronald, everything in his life was going haywire. Everything was dreary. Nothing was right and certainly nothing was normal. It was in this gloomy time that every person he knew was instantaneously clinging to someone. It was noticeably showing in his family and friends.
The oldest son of the redheaded Weasley's, Bill, was refilling his flagon of pumpkin juice while skillfully maintaining his blue eyes pierced on his fiancé, Fleur Delacour, a French descendant witch. She was animatedly discussing the French war and its impact on the Wizarding world. Hermione Granger, one of his best friends, joined the discussion that had slowly turned into a heated debate. It was completely understandable since she lived for politics. From his view point and his lack in knowledge of the topic, he could not really tell who was winning the argument. But he would put his saved sickles on Hermione any day
Fleur's nostrils flared when Hermione laughed about a comment she gave. Bill quickly patted his fiancé's hand to try and calm her down. Ron silently congratulated his brother's intense concentration when he knew that Bill was terribly bored with the conversation. The determined attention may very well have to do with Fleur's beauty. It, no doubt, enticed almost every man in the room with the exception of Ron's other best friend, Harry Potter.
Fleur's veela-like appeal had always made Ron wonder about her motives but after her heart-warming declaration that she would stand by Bill's side no matter the claw-like scars across his face, it had made Ron and his mother absolute of the couple's future. Even in the midst of a waging war, Ron was glad that his brother Bill and his twin brother's Fred and George -who never questioned their futures as owners of a Joke Shop- found happiness.
But what lay ahead for him?
It had been the one question repeating in his mind after Dumbledore's funeral. Nothing was for certain now. Ron always had the impression that Harry, the chosen one, would somehow rise above the Dark Lord with the guidance of their headmaster. Now that he was dead, who was going to guide Harry?
He hadn't forgotten the pledge he and Hermione had made to Harry. It was practically written down in his fate the day he sat down in the same Hogwarts Express compartment as Harry, who later stuck up for him against a snobby rich Draco Malfoy. Ron would stick by Harry's side no matter what. But without direction, how would they be able to find the Horocruxes and ultimately defeat the Dark Lord?
Most importantly, if they miraculously made it through the war, what will he do with his future? He usually was the one to jump for joy at a cancellation of school but if he dropped out and had no education, how could he scrape by in life? What will Harry do? What about Hermione? And then there was the question of how he would tell his mother he was not planning to continue his schooling. He remembered clearly like any Chudley Cannon Quidditch game, that his mother was absolutely livid when Fred and George left in the middle of their seventh year. Her anger descended only because they knew what they wanted to do with their life. Ron didn't.
Frustrated, Ron placed his hands on either side of his face while his elbows remained on the table. He scanned the room mournfully. Every member of the Order, with the exception of a traitor, was here. Neville Longbottom, a same House and class peer, had also been invited to celebrate Bill and Fleur's last night before marriage. Everyone seemed to be enjoying their short days of happiness, all except him.
Ron's eyes fell upon the empty chair once more. That last empty seat had been reserved for a dotty, dirty blonde hair girl who always seemed to have a fixed surprised look. He had expected for her to show up, especially after he gave a personal invite while they sat in the same compartment on their way back home from Hogwarts. Had he come off too eager? It didn't make sense because Neville came. But why hadn't she?
Harry, who sat beside him, seemed to have noticed Ron's spaced expression. In hopes to get his attention, Harry waved his hand with an amused look on his darkened face. Ron very much missed the glow on his best friend's face that now had not only diminished but most likely was not going to return.
`Where've you been?' Harry asked abruptly when Ron fastened his eyes on him.
Ron didn't exactly like to entertain the idea of telling Harry that he was thinking about loony Luna Lovegood.
`You know what? I'd rather not know,' said Harry who looked put off by Ron's hesitation. Ron, relieved, paid no mind that Harry might still be curious. His attention went back to Neville, who sat three seats down, eating and chatting with his younger sister Ginny. He was wondering why Luna did not arrive with him. He made a mental note to ask Neville later when no one else was around.
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Ron fell back against his sagging mattress and stared at the plain white ceiling. He had taken the liberty to excuse himself when supper was done. Everyone was still going on about the wedding tomorrow. His mother was determined to make his sister and Hermione try on their dresses over and over again and continuously ran back and forth from room to room. Fleur had also taken up a lot of his mother's time, demanding someone with experience to mend her wedding gown. The rest of the family had watched in amusement as his mother excitedly ran about, paying little attention to the twin's mischief. Arthur, his father, had felt a great relief that his wife was not fussing over his longer-than-usual absences. Ron secretly knew that his father was working out ways with the Minister about precautions and adjustments the community would have to go through.
Ron picked up the Quidditch Quirk magazine off his night table and began to flip through the pages. There was absolutely no point in re-reading a magazine he had memorized but it beat thinking about his life. There was an article describing the horrible defeat of the Cannons in last week's game. The words miserable and failure bulged out of the page as if to tell him this was what he was.
`Bloody hell,' mumbled Ron as he threw the magazine across the room. In that exact moment, Harry entered the room with a stern look plastered across his face. He said nothing as he sat on the extra bed in Ron's room. With his arms crossed, Harry gave him a scrutinizing look.
`What?' Ron peeved.
`Oh nothing except that you've been acting rather strangely,' Harry replied unaltered. He picked up the magazine near his foot that Ron had thrown and stared at the cover. `Cannon's lost again,' Harry stated.
`With all that's going on, I'm not surprised,' Ron said monotonously.
`And that is why you're acting…like this?' Harry questioned.
Ron hadn't the chance to answer because the door flung open, and a fuming Hermione entered the room. As though her anger had sparked fire, her hair was burnt crisp at the ends. She wore a pale pink chemise that had spots of black dust. Ron's eyes scanned upwards and found her face to be in the same condition. Her dark brown eyes emitted a cat-like quality as if she would pounce on somebody.
`What the bloody hell did you walk in?' Ron asked almost at once, `the fire place?'
`Very funny Ron,' she snapped. `You know, your sister is becoming absolutely appalling to live with!'
`I'm glad that you finally noticed,' Ron rolled his eyes. There was a time he would have not minded Hermione's behavior towards his sister but lately, he sensed Ginny's hostility and was growing concerned.
`Come off it,' Harry piped in, `Ginny can't be all that bad.'
`Says you, her boyfriend,' Hermione snorted, `if I didn't know any better I'd say she's been acting quite off since the funeral.' Ron noted Harry's immediate redness. It was considerably foolish of her to bring up the funeral. He could tell Harry was relatively uncomfortable and the room appeared to be closing in due to the climbing tension.
Hermione had caught on quickly because her face paled to some extent. `Oh Harry! I didn't mean…I didn't intend -'
`It's OK,' said Harry instantly.
Ron took this opportunity to leave. He really wasn't in the mood to be included in an emotionally tense moment. He stood up, while the two looked at anything but each other. They didn't seem to notice him walking out of the room and Ron breathed easy as he closed the door.
`What are you doing?'
Ron was startled and quickly turned to see Ginny staring at him suspiciously.
`I was about to go downstairs,' Ron said defiantly, `what are you doing here?' Ron took the chance to turn the tables around. He had a feeling that his sister was listening in on their conversation before he walked out.
`I wasn't doing anything for your information. I was going to inform you that Luna arrived,' Ginny replied. Ron couldn't help but grin inwardly. So he hadn't come off too eager. But when he noticed Ginny's smirk, his face paled.
`And why would you need to inform me?'
`Don't act like I didn't notice your goggling at the chair,' Ginny laughed. Ron could not help his face's temperature rising. Had he been that obvious?
Ron had always been, and still was for the most part, a very self-conscious boy who often worried about what other people thought of him. No matter how nice Luna was, or how accepted she was by Harry, Ron always felt that same tinge of embarrassment back in the Hogwarts train where he first met her. Luna, in his opinion, made it her life's mission to be eccentric. If it wasn't bad enough that she wore the strangest objects in the world, she spoke about the strangest things and had a knack of being brutally and embarrassingly honest. Like the time he over heard her commentary from the school's infirmary.
It made him chuckle, receiving a look from Ginny in the process. Quickly he coughed and dug his hands in his pant pockets. `Don't know what you're on about,' Ron denied. Ginny shook her head and walked back down the hall to her room. Ron looked back to the closed door of his room and made a decision not to go back in there.
He nearly ran down the hall and two flights of stairs before coming in eye-contact with Luna. She wore a royal blue cloak while holding on to her small luggage in one hand and the other a closed black umbrella. With her hair and cloak drenched, he wondered if she even bothered to use her umbrella.
Luna had just looked up to see Ron standing on the second to last step. She gave him a serene smile before removing her cloak and placing it on the coat hanger.
`Dreadful whether we've got, huh?' Ron attempted to strike up a conversation.
`I s'pose,' said Luna.
`So…you missed supper,' Ron continued. He couldn't beat around the bush; he had to know why she didn't show up earlier with Neville. All Neville had told him was Luna was caught up with family things. What things, he wondered. Ron knew it was not his business, but he needed to hear it from her.
`I'm sorry Ronald,' Luna said at once, `I know you're angry that I didn't make it.'
`No…I was just surprised you hadn't,' said Ron. He sat down on the step and placed his arms on his bent knees.
`Nobody has ever expected me before let alone invited me to their home,' Luna said. Once again, she was demonstrating her ability to speak awkward truths.
`Uh… so how are you keeping up? How's summer been so far?' Ron changed the topic quickly. He was growing uncomfortable. Luna had joined him and sat down on the step, not once looking at him.
`Summer's been OK although father has been very ill. It's been the reason why I had to stay behind,' Luna answered openly.
`Oh…that must be a drag. Whenever my father's sick, mum tends to make it a living hell for us, extra chores and all. And he's always the one to keep the family cheerful or `least my mum from nagging us.'
Ron looked sideways at her and in return, Luna clutched the collar of her dress shirt and stared off into the distance. Ron followed her gaze for a second and raised his eyebrow at the front door, where her eyes were fixed on. He took this as one of Luna's loony moments.
`You all right there?' Ron inquired.
Luna, who was still spaced, had whispered, `you shouldn't say things like that.'
`What?' Ron didn't understand. What had he said wrong? His forehead furrowed in thought. He was only trying to relate to her situation.
`If it isn't a Ravenclaw amongst us,' Fred announced with George in tow. They both wore their black dress robes and matching pair of black dress shoes and Ron assumed they were getting their share of mother's wedding frets.
`Hello Fred, George. Good evening,' Luna replied placidly, who snapped out of her daze.
`Good evening to you too Lovegood,' George stated.
`While you're here, would you like to test out our famous Patent Damp Dryer?' asked Fred as he pulled out two small black beans. `I guarantee it will leave you squeaky dry,' he handed it over to her. Luna looked down at the beans doltishly.
`Don't forget to let your family and friends know about it,' George added.
`Thank you. I don't often get things from people. I'll use it another time because I like the feeling of being soaked at the moment.'
Ron couldn't think of a time where the Burrow was this hot. His eyes were suddenly on anything but Luna as he gave a loud cough. The twins glanced over at him.
`For the last time Ron, we are not giving you any free stuff,' George, who interpreted his cough differently, said tirelessly.
Ron argued, `I didn't say any -'
`It's all right Ronald; I've brought something for you!' Luna said happily as she dug into her purse. She pulled out a miniature frame and handed it over to him. Ron turned the frame around and gave a croak. There behind the clear screen was a drawn picture of him in his Quidditch robes. It almost looked realistic and Ron gave a small smirk.
`You drew this?'
`Oh yes! I had a bit of time this morning. I know it isn't great. I'll understand if you don't want it,' Luna replied.
`No,' Ron said firmly, `I'll keep it and you draw very well.'
`You're just saying that to make me feel better.'
`No Luna, it's very well done. I could never draw like this if my life depended on it,' Ron insisted.
`Ronny got a gift from a girl,' Fred laughed, `I can't wait to tell every one.'
`Don't forget to put it on your night table seeing as this will be the only gift a girl will give you,' George added. Ron had almost forgotten the twins' presence and again, felt his face heating up. Luckily, his mother had interrupted before Ron could lash out.
`Fred! George!' their mother screeched from the second floor, `get over here at once! I'm not done adjusting your robes!'
`Oy!' exclaimed George and immediately Apparated out of sight. Fred followed suit just in time when their mother appeared at the top of the stairs. She absently forgot why she stood there at once when her eyes fell upon Luna.
`You must be Luna! Ron and Ginny told me all about you!' His mother called. `What happened dear? You've arrived so late. Are you hungry? Would you like something to drink?'
Luna opened and closed her mouth, not being able to find the right moment to answer any of his mother's questions.
`Mum please! Give the girl a chance to speak,' Ginny interrupted as she appeared next to her mom, `come upstairs Luna! I want to show you my dress! Mum finally bought me something nice.'
`Ginerva Molly Weasley!' their mother huffed.
`I'm only kidding mum,' Ginny quickly added.
`You better hope so,' said their mum, `don't forget to feed our guest,' she added before she headed back to the room she left Fleur in. Ginny gestured Luna briskly and she looked longingly at Ron before leaving him for his sister. He was alone and for the first time, he hadn't liked the idea at all. He looked down once more at the framed drawing. It made him smile unexpectedly as though Luna's gift was reassuring him everything was going to be all right.
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