This story continues Of Bare Feet and Blibbering Humdingers, but can stand alone if you haven't read it.


The clock on the wall was silent. That, in and of itself, wasn't unusual for this time of night. The clock had four hands, all of which pointed to "home." It had been a gift from his mum for his and Luna's first anniversary. Tonight, for the very last night for a long time, all the hands: Ronald, Luna, Arthur and Lysander, were together.

Tomorrow was September 1st. The boys' trunks were packed (Artie's double checked for contraband from the shop) and their supply lists checked off. Oliver, their owl (named after their favorite Quidditch keeper) was sleeping in his cage. Luna had added a box of dirigible plums to each trunk, as well as an ivy wreath ("to encourage friendship!"). Ron was pretty sure at least one of those wreaths, if not both, would be tossed out the window of the Express. And tomorrow night, two of those clock hands would point to "school" and would (hopefully) stay there until December.

Ron looked at his watch. It was 1:58. Sleep wasn't going to come. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw his own years at Hogwarts and grew more restless.

Instead of trying fruitlessly to sleep, Ron drug himself out of bed and donned his housecoat. Downstairs in the kitchen, he grabbed a late night snack and settled at the desk. In the light of his candle and the dying fire, he grabbed a quill and began to write:

While at Hogwarts, do NOT:

Fight a fully grown mountain troll (get an adult)

Smuggle dragons

Challenge a 3-headed dog

Death Chess

Drive Grandpa's flying car or Uncle Harry's motorcycle

Go near the Whomping Willow

Write in any strange, sentinent diaries

As the quill scratched the parchment, he heard soft footsteps pad down the stairs. Luna appeared behind him, her hair shining in the firelight.

"Couldn't sleep, darling?" she said as she put her arms around his shoulders and leaned in to read what he was writing.

"Yeah…I was just thinking…"

"They're going to be fine, you know."

Ron was silent.

Go into the Forbidden Forest at night (or without Hagrid)

Seek out mythical monsters

Luna rubbed his arms. "Ginny has the same worries, you know. Every year she goes through their books 2 or 3 times."

"My sister is barmy."

Luna chucked and wrapped her arms more tightly around him. "You're the one who wrote, 'Do NOT death chess.'"

Ron just kept writing.

Use a broken wand

Use anything from the shop without Dad or George's explicit permission

Wrangle Pixies

Use the slug-vomiting spell without proper training (see Uncle George)

Befriend that git, Scorpius

Befriend Moaning Myrtle

Make polyjuice in the 2nd floor girls' loo

"Some of these are incredibly specific, Ronald."

Let Gilderoy Lockhart use healing (or any) spells

"Isn't Lockhart still in St. Mungo's?"

"Doesn't matter, still needs to be said."

Luna gently took the quill from his hand, and wrote,

Neglect your studies

Neglect your friends

Neglect to write your parents

Ron took it back. "This is serious."

"I know."

Chase after mass-murderers

Get a cat

Get a rat

Use any map that Jamie, Albus or Lily may have acquired

Take Divination

Luna kissed his cheek approvingly. "You know that your boys, particularly Artie, are going to take this as a 'to do' list instead of a 'don't do' list, right?"

Ron grunted and kept writing:

Use a time-turner

"Help" with the tri-wizard tournament (you'll end up at the bottom of the lake)

Let Aunt Ginny name your owl, or anything really. Actually, if Harry tries to name anything, don't let him do it either. Or your mum. If you

have something that needs to be named, come see me first.

Luna took the quill again.

Listen to any of your father's ramblings

She handed it back to him pointedly, resting her chin on his shoulder.

"You wanted to name Artie 'Dork-an,'" he said as he scratched out another entry.

"Lorcan," she murmured.

Sneak into the Ministry to save escaped convicts

Ride a Thestral

"The Thestrals are quite nice."

Go to the Department of Mysteries for any reason whatsoever

Drink mulled mead of a questionable source

Track down a genocidal maniac with your friends

Luna kissed his cheek. Ron's quill stilled on the paper, and the two sat in silence, Ron's breathing shallow. "What if…what if it starts again? Voldemort is gone, but there's always another dark wizard just around the corner..."

Luna pulled his chair back from the desk and plopped in his lap, laying her head on his shoulder. "They'll be fine."

"You don't know that."

"And you don't know they won't. So why worry about something that's not real?"

"They're so young. Who decided it was a good idea to send them away at eleven, anyway?! Eleven years isn't enough time with them."

Luna buried her face in Ron's neck, closing her eyes. "There will never be enough time with them."

"How are you so calm about this, Luna?! That list is only a fraction of what we went through at Hogwarts. And what we saw is nothing on what Harry saw and did…"

"Why did you do it?" she asked sleepily. "You didn't have to go with Harry. You could have supported him from the sidelines without being in the thick of it."

"Of course I was going to help Harry. He was my best mate."

"And?"

"And it was the right thing to do. Someone had to do it."

"Because?" Luna murmured, drifting off a bit.

"Because then no one else would have to do what we did. It would make things better for everyone else."

Luna nodded against his shoulder, her eyes closed. Usually her vague half-asleep ramblings had a lesson or deeper meaning. He just had to get it through his thick skull. Ron kissed the top of her head and stared at the candle for awhile. The world was a different place, but that didn't mean there wasn't a risk. His boys weren't the type to sit on the sidelines. Ron knew that if there was trouble, his kids (and their cousins and Hermione's kids, of course) would be in the thick of it. That was thought that had kept him awake every night for the past few weeks.

He'd thought Luna was asleep, but she whispered, "I trust that Minerva and Neville and Flitwick have Hogwart's under control. I trust that Harry and Hermione run a tight ship over at the DMLE. And I trust that we've raised two caring, brilliant and brave boys."

"And they have each other," Ron reminded himself.

Luna continued, "and we're just an Owl or Floo call away." She lifted her head, looking into his eyes. "I need you to trust yourself. Trust that you've changed the world enough that your sons won't need to save it by themselves."

Ron kissed her gently, not breaking their gaze. "Thank you." Then he narrowed his eyebrows. "Why is it so important that Flitwick has Hogwarts under control?"

"Because they're going to be in Ravenclaw," Luna said solemnly. But there was a spark of merriment behind her eyes. "They get their brains from their father."

"Poor blokes. Anyway, they get their bravery from their mum, so I guess Flitwick doesn't matter. Since they'll be in Gryffindor." The two stared at each other in the fading candlelight, daring one another to back down.

Luna was the first to crack, letting out a little giggle. "Guess we'll find out in the morning on the 2nd."

"Speak for yourself. I plan to stay up until Oliver shows up around 2am."

"And I plan to sneak sleep potion into your tea because I don't want to hear you shuffling around the house all night. Besides, Ollie won't come at night...he'll go play around with Pig until dawn." The two grinned at each other and Luna hopped off of Ron's lap and blew out the candle. "Come to bed. I don't want to be late because all three of you overslept."

Ron looked at his list, then at the embers of the fire. "One more thing." He capped the ink and put the quill away. Then, ripping his list into a dozen pieces, tossed it into the fire. It crackled and flared as it burned away.

"Better?" Luna asked, leading him upstairs.

"Yeah. Thanks to you."

Luna responded with one of her enigmatic smiles and they fell into bed.