Chapter Four
HISTORY OF MAGIC: Recovering Artifacts and Recalling Past Events for Future References
Suffice it to say that it was slightly surprising when Luna began showing up at the Happy Gryff every day over the weekend. I didn't mind at all, of course. She was an excellent customer, and most times, she sat at the bar to talk with me. She always had interesting conversation, so I always took the time.
On Monday afternoon, she was there when Ron walked in, looking decidedly distressed.
He went up to the bar, completely ignoring the fact that Luna was there and that I was speaking to her, and said to me in a somewhat frantic tone, "Hermione passed by the shop while I was out. She dropped off the Bookshelf Enlarger that I lent her mum!"
"How dare she return the things you own!"
"Harry, stop taking the mickey. I'm serious!"
I sighed, grabbing a butterbeer from beneath the counter and popping the cap off to give to him. "You broke up last Wednesday and you both reiterated that to each other on Thursday. What part of 'We're over and done with, Ron Weasley, you insensitive prat,' did you not understand?"
I didn't mean to sound harsh, but Ron was being a tad ridiculous.
Ron reddened, not overruled, though. "But returning things! That only happens when couples separate in anger, yeah?"
"I s'pose. She might have misinterpreted your actions when you walked out of her mother's house while she was still speaking and slammed the door on your way out. Hermione could be so daft sometimes."
He finally gave a defeated sigh, realizing the idiocy of his drama. He slumped on a bar stool and took a swig of the butterbeer. He was very depressing to look at.
"Break ups are hard," Luna said.
It was then Ron finally noticed she was there. "Oh, hi Luna. How's it going?"
"Fine, thank you. I read about what happened here the other day from the Daily Prophet. It's awful what the two of you said about each other. It's like you never loved each other, ever."
Ron rolled his eyes wearily. "Yeah." He drank what was left of his butterbeer.
I wonder about Luna sometimes.
"What were you thinking?" she asked. "Calling her names?"
I don't even think she meant that as a rhetorical question. I think she really wanted to know.
Ron scowled. "Seemed like a good idea at the time!"
Luna tutted. "That's just something she would expect from you, Ronald. And when you began calling her names, she had every reason to call you names, back."
Ron looked at her like she was mad. I was watching her with great interest, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu. I remembered a day, long past, when Hermione told me my shortcomings when it came to dealing with Cho.
What would us blokes do if we didn't have women telling us what we did wrong?
"People always go with knee-jerk reactions," she continued. "But if you do something completely off-kilter, you throw them for a loop and more often than not, the results are an improvement from what you expect."
"So…?"
"Do something she wouldn't expect. Maybe she'll respond better to your attempts to talk to her."
Ron thought about what Luna said, which did not bode well. He nodded and seemed to make a decision. "Harry, Luna's right. Hermione always acts as if she knows exactly what I'm going to do. I ought to show her she's wrong. That's never been done before, yeah?"
"No kidding."
"Right now, she's probably thinking that I'll go running back to her, begging to take me back."
That was very dangerous thinking, as I knew quite well that Hermione was leaning more towards not continuing her relationship with Ron. I just had to say something. "I don't think Hermione's-"
"Well, I won't do that. I'm going to do the exact opposite. I'm going to ignore her. And maybe I'll go on a few dates. How's that sound?"
I tried again. "I don't think Hermione's-"
"In fact, I'll start right now. Luna, would you like to have dinner with me… er, tonight?"
Why do I even try? I looked apprehensively at Luna.
Her lips were pursed and she looked very peeved. "I'm washing my hair."
"Tomorrow night?"
"I'm drying it."
"Next week…?"
Luna didn't even bother to reply. "I need to go pee." She stood and went to the ladies room.
"What's she so snitty about?" Ron muttered, casting Luna a resentful glance. "It was her bloody idea."
Daft.
"Listen, mate," I said. "You need to calm down about all this. So maybe it's not working out with Hermione. It's sad, yes, and maybe you and Hermione won't be talking for a while, but you'll be friends again. You and she have gone through too much for her to throw your friendship away. And then maybe when you've got yourself straightened out, you can start seeing other people."
"I don't want to see other people," Ron grumbled, picking at the butterbeer label. "I want to see Hermione."
I sighed. "Do you, really?"
He looked up at me, eyes wide and mouth hanging slightly open. "Well of cour-I mean to say is-everyone… everyone thought we were perfect for each-if the vast majority thought so, how could they be wro-what the hell do you mean by that?"
"It means what you think it means," was what I wanted to say, but I hadn't the complimentary eye-twinkle to go with it that would make it seem mysterious and profound. So I just said, "It doesn't matter what everyone thought or said. All that matters are you and Hermione, and that you both decided it wasn't going to work out. That's it. That's how things are now. If you think you want to go back to her; if you have absolutely no doubts about it, then do it. Try to get her back. Otherwise, it's just…" I shrugged. I didn't even want to call it anything.
"Like a bit of history repeating?" Ron finished tiredly.
Weasley could still surprise me. "Well, that's a rather nice way of putting it."
"It's from a song I heard in one of those Muggle cafes."
That was something new. Ron using Muggle references. Then again, he did date Hermione for six months…
I checked up on the song later. It was quite good.
Life's for us to enjoy
Man, woman, girl, and boy
Feel the pain, feel the joy
Aside, set the little bits of history repeating
And I've seen it before
And I'll see it again
Yes, I've seen it before
Just little bits of history repeating
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Hermione came by the Happy Gryff more often now, but not to talk about Ron. I don't know if she was deliberately ignoring the subject, but after she complained ONCE about moving her things from Ron's flat and finally settling into her new place, she never brought up the subject again.
It was all fine by me. I had Ron's version of Hermione's cat-burglar-like move-out in overwhelming proportions. Never mind if it was after the fact. Apparently, over the course of two weeks, Hermione would go to Ron's apartment whenever he wasn't there and take bits and pieces of her things one at a time. Ron, daft as he was, didn't notice how things were disappearing until Hermione finally grabbed her flat-screen telly, leaving a gaping space on the living room wall.
I couldn't entirely blame Ron for not noticing, though. From what little Hermione told me, I figured she took pains hiding the fact of her subtle move-out from him. I think her main purpose was to keep it all as drama-free as possible, but I think a part of her wanted to get him back for his explosive walk-out on her in her mother's house, so she deliberately stole her way out of his flat and then took the telly last-a kind of calling card that said, "I'm all moved out. See ya!"
These two are terrible to each other.
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A/N: Almost forgot! The verse was taken from the song "Just a Little Bit of History Repeating" by the Propellerheads. ^_^