A/N: This is a completely unserious fic. Just a little up-lifter after OotP. One-shot only. I don't own anything that has already been copyrighted to J.K. Rowling. ^_^
Pink
By VirtualFaerie
Ron Weasley found the first one in his bag. It was nestled between his schoolbooks and a small, wooden case that contained his quills. It was an ordinary box of chocolate frogs…minus the fact that it had a small pink ribbon tied around it.
He had pulled it out of his bag slowly, eyes puzzling at the ribbon. He looked up at Hermione who was sitting by the fire in the common room with Harry, talking animatedly about something. "Hermione?" he said slowly.
"Yes, Ron?" said Hermione, turning her eyes from Harry to him. Ron lifted up the box and Hermione looked at it. "That's…a box of chocolate frogs," she said, looking at him confusedly.
"Did you put this in my bag?" asked Ron. "It's got a ribbon tied 'round it."
"I'm sorry, I didn't put it there," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "Maybe it was Ginny?"
"Maybe," said Ron doubtfully. He took the ribbon off of the box and put it in his robes pocket, then he opened the box, snatching up the chocolate frog before it had a chance to jump away. He pulled off one of it's legs and began chewing on it thoughtfully, taking a look at the card that had come in the box.
Dumbledore scooted into the picture and winked at Ron before hurrying out again.
"Right…" he said to himself.
The second came a bit more surprisingly. It was the next morning at breakfast, and he had just bitten into a scrumptious looking boiled egg. He tasted paper in his mouth. He jerked his hand away quickly and spit the egg out on his plate.
Harry frowned at him over his glass of pumpkin juice. "Something wrong?" he asked.
Hermione glanced up from the book. "Not feeling well? Everyone's been coming down with the flu. Maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey for some Pepper-Up potion?"
"I'm fine," snapped Ron.
Hermione looked affronted. "Well, I'm sorry if I care for your well-being…." Ron tuned her out and looked at his egg.
A corner of pink looked back at him, around it there was a Drooble's Everlasting Gum wrapper, and around that even, was a small pink ribbon.
He blinked. Again?
He looked around the Great Hall to see if anyone was looking at him, searching for a reaction. The only thing he saw out of the ordinary was Ginny standing over the Ravenclaw table, chatting with Luna, who was looking up at her with the same dreamy expression her face always held.
"HAVE YOU BEEN LISTENING TO A WORD I SAID?" Hermione shouted, reaching over the table and tugging at Ron's ear.
"Ow!" Ron said, reeling back and clutching his ear. "That hurt!"
"Well, it got your attention didn't it?" said Hermione, glaring at him.
Harry snickered into his pumpkin juice, grabbing the edge of Hermione's cardigan, pulling her back down into her chair. "Calm down," he said lightly.
"Gods, Hermione," muttered Ron.
"Anyways," said Hermione, sniffing slightly. "I was saying that you should go see Madam Pomfrey-"
"I heard that bit," said Ron.
Hermione's eyes narrowed. "I wasn't finished."
Ron looked at the egg sitting on his plate, then back up to Hermione. "You know? My stomach hurts. I think I'll go see Madam Pomfrey." He picked up the egg and shoved it in his robe pocket. "I'll catch up with you guys later, alright?"
"Alright…" Hermione said slowly, eyeing his pocket dubiously.
Ron patted his pocket, and it made a squishing sound. "I'll eat it for a snack on the way," he said brightly. He started out of the Great Hall before Hermione could ask any questions.
"Where are you going?" asked a vague voice.
Ron turned around; it was Luna. Her pale eyes looked up at him unblinkingly, fixing him with her stare. Suddenly, Ron felt the pit of his stomach growing hot.
"Err…well, I was heading to the…Hospital Wing…" he said slowly, bring up his hand and scratching at the back of his head.
Luna nodded knowingly. "Stomach."
"That's...right."
"It was the eggs," she informed him. "They were a bit off this morning. Did you notice?"
"Yes…I…" He looked at her confusedly. Did she get gum in her egg too?
Luna gave him an odd smile and walked off towards the library. Ron wondered faintly if he had seen a strange shining in her eyes. He dismissed it as her normal dreamy look.
He jammed his hands in his pockets, his right hand smashing into the egg. He grimaced and pulled it out again; the pink string was caught in his fingers.
"Gross," he said to himself, and took off towards the Gryffindor Tower.
Ron was unrolling his essay to take one last look at it before he handed it in to Snape when he found the third. This time the pink string was wrapped around a sugar quill. He frowned and picked it up slowly, taking off the string and adding it to the rapidly growing collection in his pocket.
"Find something interesting, Weasley?" came Snape's greasy voice.
Ron shoved the quill aside and re-rolled his parchment hastily. "No," he said quickly, handing it to Snape as he passed by. Snape raised an eyebrow and continued towards the back of the classroom.
"When d'you get that?" Harry asked, pointing to the sugar quill. "We haven't had our Hogsmeade trip yet."
"Er - Mum sent it to me," said Ron. Part of him wanted to tell Harry about all the candies he had been getting with the pink ribbons tied around him. He wanted to tell him so that they could figure out together who it was that was sending them.
But, the side of him that wanted to keep it to himself was larger, and therefore won the internal argument that took place in his head.
"Really?" Hermione asked from beside Harry. "Ginny hasn't gotten her letter yet."
Ron blinked and frowned. "Mum must have been too busy to write her yet," he said in what he hoped was a believable voice. "She'll probably get hers tomorrow."
Hermione raised her eyebrows and looked at Harry, who shrugged and turned towards the front of the class.
After class, Ron nearly collided with Luna, who was reading The Quibbler and sucking on the end of a sugar quill furiously.
"Sorry," said Ron immediately.
Luna looked up at him and tilted her head to the side. "What are you sorry for?" She took the quill out of her mouth only long enough to produce another one out of her bag and pop the end into her mouth. The Quibbler rustled in her hands.
"I - we…almost ran into each other."
"But we didn't?" said Luna, raising her pale eyebrows slightly.
"That's right," Ron said, feeling his cheeks begin to burn pink.
"Then you have no reason to be sorry," she stated firmly. Before Ron could say anything, she had lifted The Quibbler back up, covering her face, and she took off down the hall; her sequined purple bag flopped around behind her, coming back to hit against her thigh routinely.
Ron ran a hand through his hair, looking after her back with his eyebrows furrowed. That girl confused him.
He was retrieving his Cleansweep out of his quidditch locker when he found the fourth. It was tied around his lock with a chocolate coin dangling from it. He plucked the coin from the ribbon, tearing off the wrapper and popping the chocolate into his mouth. He stuck the ribbon into his Quidditch robes and looked around him curiously.
No on was paying him the slightest attention, they were all getting ready for the match. It was Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw.
The team made their way onto the pitch few minutes later. Ron looked up at the Gryffindor stands, noticing Luna wearing her hat shaped like a life-sized lion's head. She was holding one end of a banner, Hermione held the other, that proclaimed: Weasley is our King!
Harry coughed behind him. "Ready?" he asked, mounting his broom.
"Yeah," Ron said gruffly, nervousness creeping out of his stomach and up his throat.
He took one last look up at the stands and found a pink ribbon rustling around in the wind, dancing in front of his very eyes. It was tied to the end of one of Luna's plaits. He rubbed his eyes and looked up again. He could have sworn that Luna winked at him.
That evening at dinner, Ron kept sneaking glances at Luna, who was sitting cross-legged in her chair, an issue of The Quibbler propped up against her glass of pumpkin juice.
"That was a spectacular save!" said Seamus, between shoveling forkfuls of potatoes into his mouth. "Excellent form and…what are you staring at, Ron?"
Harry looked over at Ron and followed his line of vision.
"Nothing," Ron said quickly, jerking his head towards Seamus.
"Luna," Harry said with satisfied smirk on his face.
"I was not," said Ron hotly.
"Has ickle Ron got a crush on Luna?" said Harry.
Hermione smiled at Ron. "That's cute. She really is…an interesting girl."
"I have not got a crush on her!" Ron proclaimed, squeaking slightly. "She's…Ginny's age for Merlin's sake! She's like my sister!"
"Mmmhmm," Hermione said disinterestedly, starting to pick at her food with a knowing grin.
Ron fumed and snuck a look at the Ravenclaw table. Luna seemed to have disappeared from her seat. "I haven't," he said firmly to his ham. He stood up from the table and left the Great Hall.
He found Luna sitting outside the Great Hall near a suit of armor, The Quibbler resting in her lap. He stood in front of her. "Was it you?" he demanded.
"Was what me?" she asked in her dreamy voice, not looking up from her magazine. "There are lots of things I could be."
"Were you the one sending the sweets with the pink ribbons," he clarified, dropping down into a crouch beside her.
Luna flipped a page. "Oh, yes, that was me," she said absently. "Did you like the sugar quill? I love sugar quills; they're very handy."
Ron gave her an exasperated look. "Why did you send them?"
She finally looked up from her magazine, her silvery eyes were wide. "You are thick, aren't you?" she asked, shaking her head, causing her earrings…which had butterbeer caps dangling from them, to swing back and forth wildly.
"What?" asked Ron blankly, his eyebrows knitting together.
"I like you," she said matter-of-factly.
Ron's crouch wavered and he fell back straight onto his bottom. "WHAT?" he squeaked.
"I said: I. Like. You." She pronounced each word clearly and slowly, then leaned back further, waiting for her words to sink in, her pale eyes examining his face quickly before she turned back to her magazine.
"You like me?" Ron wasn't quite sure he'd heard her right.
"Mmm, that's what I said."
"Well…I…" Ron felt himself turn pink, right up to the tips of his ears.
Luna glanced up at him. "Are you going to kiss me or what?"
Ron's eyes widened, and Luna reached out to grip his uniform tie and pulled him to her, pressing her lips against his firmly. Ron was stiffened from surprise, then kissed her back.
Her lips tasted sweet - like a sugar quill.