Easter: Runa/Lon

One-Shot

A short story to go along with my other story "One Year". It just says some things that you found it at the end, if that's not too confusing.

"What the bloody hell happened here?" Ron Weasley exclaimed as he and his best friend Harry Potter walked into the Ministry of Magic one Thursday morning.

"Today is the last day before the Easter weekend so the head guys decided to have an Easter Egg Hunt to boost moral. Didn't you listen at the meeting last week?" Harry explained.

Ron looked around disgustedly at the Easter decorations. The actually had little rabbits hopping around with baskets. It was sickening. But Ron hadn't been that happy recently. His long time girlfriend had kissed Draco Malfoy so he broke up with her. Hermione and Malfoy were both working at Hogwarts.

"Hello, boys! Here's your basket!" Mr. Weasley came up to them and said.

"What are the baskets for?" Ron asked.

"We're having a bit of a competition. The person who collects the most eggs wins a valuable prize!" Mr. Weasley said.

Ron perked up, "What's the prize?" He asked.

Mr. Weasley grinned, "You'll find out at the end. You'll have all morning to find the eggs. So you don't have to work until this afternoon!"

He went off to talk to another couple of wizards about the morning plans.

"Well, see you later!" Harry said cheerfully.

"Wait – where are you going?" Ron asked.

"To find the eggs! I can't wait to beat you!" Harry called over his shoulder to his best friend.

Not if I can help it. Ron thought to himself. He ran off to the lift and got in. The lift was full of witches and wizards excitedly talking about the hunt.

Ron got out on a random floor and started searching. The floor was mostly empty and he saw an egg soon. He reached over to grab it but it zoomed off and landed a few feet away.

"Oh, so it's going to be like that is it?" Ron asked out loud.

"Yes, it is. It's fun, huh?" A voice replied.

Ron jumped. He didn't see anyone when he came in and a smile broke out on his face when he saw a pretty blonde witch with sunshine yellow robes and little Easter egg earrings dangling from her ears.

"Oh, hey Luna." Ron said.

"Hello Ronald. How many eggs have you caught yet?" Luna Lovegood asked him.

"Uh, none yet. That one was supposed to be my first." He said pointing to the pink and blue egg that had escaped him.

"I've caught three. Oh, I have an idea! Why don't we work together to find the eggs then put everything we found together at the end so we can split the valuable prize!" Luna asked him excitedly. Ron was about to say no but remembered that Luna didn't have many friends, everyone still called her 'Loony', and she was fun to be around when they were at Hogwarts. Her bright smile and her happy eyes were like a breath of fresh air to Ron who had been swamped with misery these last few months.

"Yeah sure, why not?" Ron answered.

Luna smiled at him and Ron felt his heart warm. Luna was such a kind person and she was fun too. She was always happy and laughing even though she knew that everyone made fun of her. And she was pretty too. Hermione was pretty but in a different way than Luna and her long wavy blonde hair and big blue-grey eyes. Ron was startled when he realized what he was thinking about Loony Luna.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Luna asked him dreamily.

"I-I just lost my train of thought." Ron said.

"That can happen. I did sense a lot of Higgleluffs around." She swatted the air and Ron grinned.

The Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures really was the best place for Luna to work.

"What are Higgleluffs?" Ron asked.

Luna explained about the magical flying invisible creatures that make wizards lose their train of thought and get distracted. She continued her happy chatter until they got to an empty area of the building with a purple egg lying innocently on the floor.

"The trick is to pounce on it when it isn't looking." Luna whispered to her partner.

Ron nodded and whispered, "One, two, three!"

Then both of them jumped out and shoved the squirming egg into their basket.

They high fived and Ron felt that funny sensation again. The continued working like that until a bell tolled, signaling all the wizards and witches back into the lobby.

Kingsley Shacklebot was standing on a podium and he called out, "Count your eggs than send the number up into the air. Anti-lying spells have been put out." He warned.

Ron and Luna quickly counted their eggs. He then sent up their number. The number 112 stayed floating above their heads.

"It looks like our winner is Ron Weasley of the Auror office." Shacklebot said.

"Actually, me and Luna Lovegood worked together." Ron said. He and Luna went up to the front to the Minister of Magic.

"Your prize is 200 Galleons." Kingsley said.

"That means we each get 100 Galleons!" Luna said excitedly.

Once they were off the podium and away from the Minister of Magic, Ron said to Luna, "Why don't we blow off this afternoon and go out for a long lunch and spend our 100 Galleons?"

"Yes, alright that sounds fun. We could eat ice cream, we might see some Higgleluffs. I have some special goggles and Higgleluffs really like ice cream." Luna told him seriously.

"Yes, I bet they do." Ron said seriously back, but the grin on his face gave him away.

On their way out the door, Luna linked her arm with Ron's and he thought that getting over Hermione might not be as hard as he thought it would be.

THE END