Lose It All
by Puppy Noelle
Disclaimer: I own myself, my ideas, my many and numerous notebooks, my imagination, and a few other things [nothing worth actual monetary value] and basically other than that I own nothing. And, sadly, I own none of the copyrights, trademarks, etc that have to do with the Harry Potter world.
Description: 7th year; Despite the raging war and turmoil of the wizarding world, Ron's life finally seems to be turning around: the crush he's had on Hermione since fourth year is finally becoming more than just a one-sided thing, he becomes a much better Quidditch player, he proves himself to Fred and George, his grades finally start to improve, and he even befriends "Loony" Luna Lovegood. But as he tries to decipher Luna's mysterious ways and defend her from relentless tormenters and non-believers, he must choose between being a renowned hero alongside his two best friends and being the hero of a single lonely girl.
Genres: Romance, Drama (a little bit of everything really, but those are the main two)
Pairings: Initial pairings: Harry/Ginny, Ron/Hermione, and Ron/Luna fluff; Main/Final parings: Ron/Luna, Harry/Hermione, Ginny/Neville
Rating: PG-13, T
My Inspiration:
Take what you need
'Cause I can't hold my breath
Say what you feel
'Cause I've got nothing left
Oh, I made a promise to myself last night
I'm going to keep it if it's wrong or right
And if I lose it all
There'll be nothing left to lose
And I will take the fall
'Cause knowing you are out there breathing
Is so wonderful
It's a chance I'll take
Even if I break
And I lose it all
If I lose it all
It wouldn't matter anyway
Don't change a thing
You're perfect as you are
Time has a way
Time is all I've got
If my heart should shatter watching you
There'd be one less thing I'd have to prove
And if I lose it all
There'll be nothing left to lose
And I will take the fall
'Cause knowing you are out there breathing
Is so wonderful
It's a chance I'll take
Even if I break
And I lose it all
If I lose it all
Heaven will be waiting
When I fall into your open arms
I believe you'll find me there
You'll find me there
And if I lose it all
There'll be nothing left to lose
And I will take the fall
'Cause knowing you are out there breathing
Is so wonderful
It's a chance I'll take
Even if I break
And I lose it all
If I lose it all
And if I lose it all
There'll be nothing left to lose
And I will take the fall
'Cause knowing you are out there breathing
Is so wonderful
It's a chance I'll take
Even if I break
And I lose it all
If I lose it all
It wouldn't matter anyway
--Lose It All
--Backstreet Boys
--"Never Gone"
Chapter I: An Odd Start
It was nearly eleven o'clock a.m. when Ron Weasley groggily made his way down the stairs of the Burrow. The summer heat and lack of things to do made sleeping in late a very easy and enjoyable thing to do. His mother had even given up on trying to wake him at a decent hour; it took far too much time to drag him out of his room than Molly Weasley thought suitable for her schedule. Her only punishment for her youngest son was not allowing him to eat breakfast when he woke up at such unreasonable hours. Ron didn't mind though; all he had to do was sneak into the cabinets when she wasn't in the kitchen and take some snacks up to his room- which now had various snack items tucked away where only he could find them.
He eventually made his way into the kitchen to find his mother there, already beginning lunch preparations.
"Good morning Ronald dear," she said as she pulled various ingredients out of the cabinets.
"G'morning," he mustered as he poured himself a glass of orange juice. As he sleepily turned around and began to walk towards the table, he collided with something, and whatever it was, came tumbling to the ground with him, entangling itself in his legs. But before he could react at all, he felt a cold splash all over his face and chest. He groaned miserably. What a wonderful way to start the day.
The person he had run into started detangling themselves from his legs, but apparently when they tried to lift themselves from the floor, a simultaneous bonk and high pitched yelp of surprise came from the table.
After he'd wiped all the remaining orange juice out of his eyes, he sat up and opened them to have his vision obscured by some stringy golden-yellow substance. He noticed a small feminine hand rubbing a spot on the top of the girl's head before the head back up, smacking right into his face. He pushed himself to the floor, clutching his nose, praying that it wasn't bleeding. The sudden movement caused the still tangled girl to fall backwards on top of him, with her elbow falling accidentally into his stomach and her blonde strands flying into his face.
"OW!!!" he bellowed at the impact of her elbow in her stomach.
"Oh dear…" he head his mother say as her footsteps hurried over to the scene. It wasn't long before Mrs. Weasley had untangled the two and helped the girl up onto her feet. She quickly turned her attention to her injured son and moved him into a sitting position. She pulled his hands away from his face and he opened his eyes, afraid that he might see blood all over them, but they were clean, except for the sticky juice. As his mother examined him, he dropped his hands and looked up at the cause of his injuries. He recognised her immediately- it was Luna Lovegood. She was wearing baggy jeans, sneakers, her usual radish earrings, and a solid white tank-top that was now soaked with orange juice. Her face was filled with mild surprise at the incident, but when he caught her eye, she returned to her usual dreamy state. "Hello Ronald," she said in the most awkward tone he thought she could possibly muster.
His ears turned pink. "Err… hi Luna," he mustered, "Uh… what are you doing here?"
"Ginny invited me over. I'm staying over for the week while Daddy's away looking into a new story."
"Oh," he said as his mother stood up, satisfied that there were no serious injuries to her son.
"You're fine, now get up and go clean yourself up, Ronald," Mrs. Weasley said as she lightly whacked the back of his head with a dishrag. "Luna dear, you can wash up in my bathroom. It's right through my bedroom, first door on the left."
"Okay," the blonde responded dreamily before gliding out of the kitchen.
Ron blinked after her before shrugging it off and picking himself off the ground. With his taste for orange juice temporarily gone, he proceeded back to his bedroom for a change of clothes and went straight to the bathroom to shower.
Once he'd left the bathroom, he smelled lunch downstairs and quickly made his way to the kitchen.
When he arrived, Fred and George were there and say on one side of the table. Once they'd caught his eye, they glanced at Luna across the table and started snickering when they'd looked back at him. Ginny, who was next to Luna, noticed Ron enter and soon began imitating the twins.
Ron shot death glares at all three of them in turn, and, in an attempt to avoid further teasing, sat on Luna's free side. This, however, had the opposite effect. Fred and George broke out howling with laughter and Ginny giggled so much her face was beginning to turn red. Across form Ron, George started puckering his lips tauntingly, while Fred teasingly batted his eyelashes. Ginny now looked on the verge of tears from laughing so hard. Ron's ears had turned pink and his entire face became red with rage as he growled at his siblings. He gripped his wand, pulling it out of his pocket. He said angrily, "Do I have to remind you: I'm seventeen now and I can use magic whenever I want!"
But just as he'd pointed his wand at Fred's face, Mrs. Weasley walked back into the kitchen and "Accio wand!" erupted from her mouth. Ron's want shot from his hand and into his mother's. "No attacking you brothers at the table!"
"But Mum! They were teasing me!" he said, attempting to get her on his side.
She glared at him as she pocketed his wand. "Even so, that still doesn't give you the right to jinx them for it!"
"But-"
"That's enough Ronald!" she snapped. He retreated quietly, defeated. She then turned her attention to Fred and George, who were on the verge of tears from laughing so hard. "As for you two," she said, pointing her own wand at them; they froze at this; "stop teasing your brother. Accidents happen, and neither of them sustained any serious injuries, so there is no need to go on about it!"
All four Weasley children became dead silent. They knew better than to push their mother too far nowadays: especially since she had been keener to lose her temper lately. Ever since Dumbledore's death she, and everyone else, had become both jumpier and moodier than before. They had noticed it on all the faces of the various Order members that had passed through the Burrow. The only signs of happiness that they had seen were when Lupin and Tonks both stopped by together. They usually held hands with fingers closely entwined- and even then they usually brought bad news with them.
Mrs. Weasley finally calmed down, and began filling their bowls with soup. Once her own bowl had been filled, she flicked her wand and the pot floated back atop the stove. She took her seat at the end of the long table, next to Ginny, and they all began eating in silence.
Ron wished that he hadn't come downstairs at all as he forcefully swallowed a rather large gulp of hot soup. He peered around at the others at the table. Fred and George were both silently staring into their bowls, twirling their spoons around nervously amongst their afternoon nourishment. Mrs. Weasley now had her eyes fixated on the family clock, which was now placed directly in front of her bowl. He assumed that all of its hands were still glued to "mortal peril" as they usually were. Ginny had taken a break from her soup and had her eyes fixated on the empty chair across from her as she sipped from her glass of water. Finally, he looked next to him, at Luna, who had the most recent issue of The Quibbler in one hand and her spoon in the other. Her eyes were glued to what appeared to be a comic of Scrimegeour, the new Minister of Magic, running around happily and telling everyone that Dumbledore was dead. He leaned in closer to read more of the comic- he'd never realized just how political the magazine actually was at times; after all, he was used to it being full of nothing but rubbish.
In his peripheral vision, he noticed Luna's eyes leaving the comic and instead catching his eye. He felt a tiny blush creeping onto his cheeks, but quickly forced his embarrassment away and tilted his head at the comic in her hand. She gave him a look of understanding and moved the magazine so he could get a better look. They both returned their eyes to the magazine and continued eating their lunch despite the room's awkward silence.
Luna was the first to finish eating and she retired to reading the article opposite the comic that a scowling Ron's eyes were glued to. Ginny, the next to finish, cleared away her dishes and tapped Luna on the shoulder. "Come on Luna; let's go up to my room," she said, tugging on the blonde girl's arm. Reluctantly, Luna allowed her best friend to pull her away from her comfortable spot at the table. She purposely dropped her magazine on the table next to Ron's nearly empty glass as she turned to follow the red-haired girl out of the kitchen.
Breaking his concentration on the displaced magazine, Ron turned his head and allowed his sapphire eyes to follow the trail of golden blonde locks as their owner disappeared up the stairs. He returned to his meal, picked up the fallen magazine with his free hand, and continued reading. After a few minutes, he stood up, satisfied with eating only half of his soup, and made his way out of sight.
Fred and George each raised an eyebrow inquisitively, exchanging curious glances between their younger brother's retreating form and each other. Even Mrs. Weasley donned a look of surprise at how little her youngest son had eaten.
Ron flipped through the pages of The Quibbler lazily as he climbed the stairs, heading to his bedroom. He hoped Luna wouldn't mind if he borrowed it for a couple of hours. After all, she was the one who dropped in on the table in front of him. And so what if most of the stuff in the magazine was total rubbish, like Crumple-Horned Snorkacks; at least the stuff was amusing. He frowned. If anyone at Hogwarts knew that he found The Quibbler entertaining they'd think he was as mental as Luna. Heaven knows he wouldn't want that. He decided it best that he not read anymore and instead of going to his own room, he headed to Ginny's room to return the magazine to Luna.
Once he reached the door, he knocked loudly on it and his sister's annoyed voice erupted from inside the room, "Hold on a minute!"
He rolled his eyes and made to open the door himself just as the door swung open revealing his irritated sister in its wake. "What do you want Ron?" she asked huffily, folding her arms across her chest. He peeked into the room and found the person he was looking for perched on Ginny's bed, staring straight at him. He quickly returned his attention to his sister, who was now becoming impatient.
"Luna left The Quibbler at the table," he said, looking back at the girl on the bed, "I figured she'd want it back." Once again he turned back to Ginny and held the magazine out to her, but before Ginny had the chance to take it, Luna had appeared in front of her. She smiled at Ron, revealing pretty white teeth. Although surprised by the fact that she was actually smiling at him, he couldn't help but smile back as he held out the magazine for her.
"Here you go," he said, not taking his eyes off her blue-topaz ones.
"Thank you Ronald," she said dreamily as she reached out, gently removing the item from his hand. She allowed herself to linger only a few seconds longer before retreating into the room, leaving Ginny to close the door.
Once she'd closed the door, Ginny turned to her best friend and stared at her incredulously. "What just happened there?" the red-head asked, "Was that really my brother or was he under the Imperius curse?"
Luna shook her head, "I doubt that he's been cursed," she paused to ponder any other options, "He's probably just got some Wrackspurts floating around in his room… You know how they can make people go funny…"
Ginny couldn't help but release a giggle. No matter how crazy the creatures in The Quibbler became, she knew that Luna would always believe in them. And even though most people thought of this as a sign of insanity, Ginny honestly thought of this odd quality as more amusing and endearing than anything else. As she sat down across from Luna and returned to their game of Exploding Snap, she wondered if maybe Ron was starting to see her best friend in the same light as she did. She knew, obviously, that Luna had fancied her brother since the girls' first year, but she never really thought that he could possibly return the sentiment: he was always too oblivious to notice the good things that were right in front of him. But now, just maybe, things could finally work out in her best friend's favour. Only time could tell.
Once his sister's door had closed, Ron heard her ask Luna, "What just happened there? Was that really my brother or was he under the Imperius curse?"
He scowled and angrily turned away. He began swearing under his breath as he stomped up to his own room. Once he was inside, he slammed the door shut and threw himself onto his bed, still scowling. Why did his sister always have to ruin his good mood? Whether it was snogging guys right in front of him or simply finding ways to indult him, she had this incredibly annoying knack for finding ways to irritate him. Now that he thought about it, Hermione had that same knack for getting on his nerves. Except he fancied Hermione, right? Yes. But Luna… she didn't really irritate him. No. She just confused him if anything. And it was odd how he'd never noticed it before, but as he remembered the crazy blonde's appearance as he gave her her magazine, his mind began to wander.
She hadn't been wearing the same outfit that she wore at lunch. She wore an ankle length white skirt and a pale blue fitted t-shirt. He had never seen her wear such an attractive outfit before. She usually wore clothes that were quite baggy, so he'd always assumed that she had a boyish figure, but in that outfit he realized that she really had a nice petite, healthy, feminine figure. He smacked himself. 'She's my sister's best friend. Nothing can happen,' he thought, 'and besides, even if something did happen, Ginny would kill me. And people at school would torture me for it; and I fancy Hermione anyways. Right? Yes.'
He sighed and decided to ride on his broomstick for a while. That always helped him clear his head.
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>End chapter one
Free hugs will go out to all reviewers! I sincerely hope you enjoyed this first chapter! I know I enjoyed writing Ron's "inner conflict" and there will be much more of that for those who found it as amusing as I have. Until next chapter!
>Hugs