Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Ron couldn't help but laugh as he helped Neville to the apartment. Harry had passed out at the Burrow, but Neville, still being conscious and aware, had volunteered Ron to help him home.
Ron hadn't drunk anything tonight, despite the fact that everyone else had seemed to get tipsy, if not outright drunk tonight for some reason.
Even his parent's. Those were not images that Ron needed to have in his head. Not that he wasn't glad, it had seemed like things were finally getting normal, or at least whatever this new normal was.
Ron was sitting on something that would blow that up, and he wanted to prolong telling them for as long as he could. Obviously not forever, he wanted his child to know their family, but as long as he could.
Ron had a feeling that wasn't as long as he wanted.
Neville stumbled again, as he insisted that he could walk just fine by himself. Ron knew he was wrong, but the results were pretty entertaining, so he didn't say anything.
Still, Neville didn't right himself, and Ron was grabbing his orange sweater just before Neville used his face to break his fall.
"Thhanks, mate," Neville slurred and Ron responded with an absentminded "Welcome, mate."
"What's with you tonight?" Neville asked and Ron internally winced. He probably did seem very out of it tonight, but so far no one had commented on it. "You're like in a daze."
Neville looked at him expectant eyes and Ron really wished they had installed the Floo Network already. It would prevent this awkward conversation.
"Just not feeling well," Ron lied. "Ate something funny for lunch."
"Oh," Neville said, and thankfully he said nothing more. Finally, they got to the apartment and Neville instantly went towards his bedroom. Ron debated going to his own, but changed his mind.
He needed to see Daphne.
He Apparated to right outside her apartment building. She had given the address to him in case of an emergency, though what emergency that could be Ron didn't know. Some old Muggle woman saw him, and her mouth gabbed wide open at him. Ron ignored her. Quickly, and whilst taking note of the fact that the place was a dump and should not be lived in by anyone (seriously. Some of the Death Eater's Ron had tracked down had been hiding in places like this. Most of them better.), he made his way to the third floor, apartment B.
The entire floor was filled with a rather haunting melody, a song that Ron figured was Muggle as he had never heard it before. Something about a "stairway to heaven".
It seemed to be coming from apartment B. Ron knew that Daphne was really becoming part of the Muggle world, and he figured that music would be a good place to start. He briefly wondered if she would give him a few pointers.
He knocked on the door, wondering if she would hear it over the music.
Luckily, she did.
The door opened to reveal Daphne, barefoot with old blue jeans and an oversized t-shirt that read "Gandalf for President."
Ron had no idea what that meant.
"Ron?" she asked. Her dark brown hair was in a bun, held up with a pencil.
She looked beautiful.
"I don't want to lie," he told her, the words slipping out of him before he could stop them.
"What?" she asked, eyes wide.
"I don't want to lie," he said louder. "I don't want to tell my family it, and I know you don't want to tell yours."
"Okay," she said. "What do you want to tell them?"
"The truth," he said. "We make it the truth."
Daphne leaned against the door, and crossed her arms. "Are you . . .?"
Ron licked his lips. For some reason, they were really dry. "We date. For a couple months, before you begin to show. When that happens, we talk about if we want to stay together, or if we want to break up. But we tell our families no matter what, but then-"
"We wouldn't be lying," Daphne finished with a grin.
"Merely fudging some dates and letting them come to their own conclusions," Ron responded with the same grin.
"Why, Ron Weasley," Daphne said. "I hope you won't be that surprised when your child ends up in Slytherin, because between the two of us, they will be."
Ron scoffed. "It'll be Gryffindor. Wait and see."
Daphne's smile grew soft. "I will."
