Previously on Machinations…

"Ron, Ginny. I knew you'd come for me." Luna said, looking up at them from where she knelt, clutching her father's body.

"What happened, Luna?" Ginny asked, looking at the badly damaged house.

"It was Bellatrix Lestrange. She and father dueled. He badly injured her but was hurt in the process." Luna said sniffling.

"I can't believe the nerve of that little French tart," Molly said.

"I hope you don't mind but we invited Luna to stay with us," Ron said, looking at Fleur.

"Thank you, Lord Dumbledore. That's all I needed." Rita Skeeter said, stowing her quick quotes quill and parchment in her hand bag before walking away.

Chapter 7

Waking up the next morning, Ron sat up and stretched before reaching for his wand on the nightstand next to the bed. Casting a quick tempus charm, Ron groaned. Six thirty in the morning was way too early to get up in his opinion. Beside him, Ginny lay slumbering peacefully against the pillow.

Smiling, Ron watched her sleep for a few minutes. "She's so beautiful when she's asleep." He thought to himself. Reaching out, he brushed a stray lock of red hair from her face, before leaning down to softly kiss her cheek.

A quiet knock sounded on the door. Ron climbed out of bed and sighed, fumbling for his boxers and shirt, quickly pulling them on before walking to the door, opening it to see who was there. "Oh, hi Luna. What can I do for you?" Ron asked, standing in the doorway.

Luna stood in the doorway dressed in a tank top and shorts, her hair flowing freely about her shoulders. "I was wondering if Ginny was awake yet. I wanted to ask if she would go flying with me before breakfast." Luna said, smiling brightly.

Stepping aside, Ron turned back to the bed where Ginny was sitting up, blearily rubbing her eyes. "Who's at the door, Ron?" She mumbled groggily. Looking back at her, Ron was about to answer when Luna spoke up.

"It's just me. I wanted to see if you were interested in a quick fly before breakfast." Luna said, cheerfully.

"Sure thing, Luna. Just give me thirty minutes to shower and dress." Ginny sighed, looking at Luna in the doorway.

"Okay, see you downstairs." Luna chirped, turning to leave when she glanced back over her shoulder. "Nice boxers, Ron." She said, before continuing on her way.

Thirty minutes later, Ginny emerged from the shower dressed in a t-shirt and tight-fitting shorts and headed downstairs leaving Ron alone in the bedroom. Sighing, Ron decided he wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep, so instead settled on a quick shower himself and an early breakfast.

Walking down the hall towards the flight of stairs, Ron heard what sounded like crying coming from Fleur's bedroom. Knocking on the door, he waited for an answer before peering inside. Fleur was curled up in the middle of her bed, crying softly into the pillow.

Feeling awkward and unsure of what he should do, Ron let himself into the room and walked slowly over to the bed, sitting down on the mattress and reaching out for her. "Fleur is everything alright?" Ron asked.

"Oui. I…I'm fine." Fleur said unconvincingly, sitting up and looking at Ron, tears in her eyes.

"Are you sure? You can talk to me about anything." Ron said.

"Vell, its just everything that 'as 'appened 'ze last few days." Fleur said, drying her eyes before continuing. "The rocky marriage, the harsh words from your mom, and my fight with Bill. He 'it me when I told him I needed time to think about us being a 'ouple anymore." Fleur said, tearing up again.

Wrapping his arms around her and hugging her to his chest Ron held her as she cried. "Has he done that before?" Ron asked, dreading the answer.

"No. I 'vould never 'ave married 'im if 'e had hit me." Fleur said quietly, burrowing her face into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Fleur," Ron said. Inside he was angry at his brother. He had liked Fleur since his fourth year and the idea of someone intentionally harming her filled him with rage. Doing his best to comfort her, Ron wrestled with inner turmoil of his own. She was his brother's wife, soon to be ex-wife, but he found himself drawn to her when he should be inclined to support his brother.

Looking down into her face, resting against his shoulder, Ron felt overcome with the desire to kiss her. His lips inching closer to her, he softly claimed her lips with his own, his fingers tangling in her hair. Slowly, Fleur returned his kiss, her eyes closed as she embraced him, her arms wrapping around his broad shoulders.

After about a minute, Ron pulled back, face flushed, his hands fumbling at his sides, searching for something to say, as a breathless Fleur looked back at him. "I…um, well I'm sorry, Fleur. I didn't come in here with the intention of starting something. I just, that is I couldn't help myself. I really wanted to kiss you and part of my brain said, go for it." Ron said, hoping she wasn't mad at him.

"Eet is okay, Ron." Fleur said, sitting beside him on the bed. "I feel something for you too. Eet is why I kissed you back." She continued softly.

Brightening, Ron suddenly got an idea. "Ginny and Luna are going for a fly. What do you say to you and I have a breakfast picnic in the gardens? Just the two of us." Ron asked.

"Oui. I'd like 'zat very much." Fleur replied, cheering up.

"Excellent. It's a date then." Ron said standing and pausing as what he had just said dawned on him.

Turning back, he saw Fleur smiling as she stood up waiting for him to leave so she could get ready.

"I'll just go downstairs then," Ron mumbled awkwardly, heading for the door and making his way down the hall towards the stairwell. As he made his way down the steps, he let out a silent whoop of delight. "Yes! A date with Fleur." He thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Fleur was going through the clothes she had the elves bring over from Shell Cottage, trying to decide what to wear. Finally settling on a knee length skirt and white cotton blouse, with a pair of black heels, she quickly dressed before sitting in front of the vanity mirror to do her makeup.

After what seemed like an eternity to Ron, Fleur came down the stairs. Mouth agape, Ron could only stare as she walked up to him. "Wow." He managed to say as she stopped in front of him.

"Do you like it? I wasn't sure what to wear." Fleur said, looking at him.

"It's …wow. Err, I mean you look great." Ron said, holding the picnic basket in one hand and offering his free arm to her. "Shall we get going?" He asked, finally managing to gather his wits.

"Sure," Fleur said, taking his arm and following him outside and down the path that led to the gardens.

Finding a spot among some rose bushes, Ron spread out the picnic blanket and waited until Fleur was seated comfortably before sitting down himself and taking out the food.

They spent the next hour eating and talking, getting to know one another better. As it turned out they had a lot in common. They both enjoyed Quidditch. Fleur had played back in France at Beauxbatons Academy and at her home. And they both also enjoyed playing chess, though Fleur admitted she wasn't very good. Her little sister Gabrielle was the chess master in the family. They talked about their childhoods and what it was like growing up in their respective countries before finally deciding to head back to the manor.

Walking inside, Ron was just about to stow away the picnic basket in the kitchen when Ginny came bursting into the room with Luna following behind her. In her hand, Ginny held a copy of the daily prophet. "There you are, Ron. You made the front page of the morning prophet." Ginny said, holding it out for him.

"DUMBLEDORE'S HEIR, DUMBLEDORE 2.0"

"We here at the daily prophet received word that dark lord's minions, the death eaters openly and in force attacked the residence of the Lovegood family in Ottery St. Catchpole. The first on the scene was not, in fact, aurors as one would expect but instead, Dumbledore's heir, Lord Ronald Weasley Dumbledore who almost single-handedly defeated the dark lord's servants before the Department of Magical Law enforcement officials arrived on scene to take the vanquished death eaters into custody.

What does this say about our police force? This reporter has her doubts. Spokespeople for the DMLE declined to comment about this failure. In any case, one can't help but wonder whether Dumbledore had a plan in mind when choosing his heir. Is young Weasley Dumbledore the next leader of the light?

We met up with him during an outing in Diagon Alley. Accompanying him were his sister, his sister in law and former Triwizard competitor Fleur Delacour, from Beauxbatons Academy in France and young Miss Lovegood whom they rescued from the rubble of her former home.

When questioned about whether he was romantically involved with anyone, Mr. Weasley Dumbledore confirmed he was involved with someone but declined to name that person. This reporter promises to find out more for you, our loyal readers.

This report brought to you by Rita Skeeter."

"What the hell? She didn't even mention your name." Ron said, looking at Ginny.

"What are we going to do about this Ron?" We can't have that horrid woman snooping around the manor." Ginny stated, worried and angry.

"Don't worry, Gin Gin. One of the wards on the property prevents people in animagus forms from sneaking onto the grounds. She'll never make it past the wards." Ron said, trying to reassure her.

"I suppose so, but I still don't like it. It's like being back at the Burrow. No privacy whatsoever." Ginny said, angrily stomping her foot.

"I'll owl Hermione. Maybe she can do something about Skeeter." Ron said, hopefully.

"I hope so. That bitch is nothing but trouble. We should just be grateful that this article wasn't anything awful like her usual garbage." Ginny said, angrily.

XxxxxxxxxxxX

Later that night, under cover of darkness, they crept silently down the row of houses until they stopped outside one just in the middle. "Are you sure this is where she lives?" He asked, uncertainly.

"Of course. According to the records at the Ministry, this is her house." A second voice said.

They waited until a short time after the lights went out before temporarily disabling the wards and creeping inside the darkened interior of the house. Creeping from room to room they found her asleep in the upstairs bedroom.

Casting silencing charms and anti-apparition and portkey wards of their own, one figure stepped forward while the other two removed her wand from the bedside table and trained their wands on her.

"Hello, Umbitch. You have something we want." Harry snarled, waking the small figure up with a well-cast stinging hex.

XxxxxxxxxxxX

Racing through the air on his clean sweep, Ron was just able to block the quaffle from sailing through the hoop on the far right. Wiping the sweat off his brow, Ron returned to his spot in front of the center hoop. Meanwhile, at the other end of the pitch, Luna sat on her broom in front of the opposite goal posts, staring dreamily into space.

Ginny and Fleur were both playing chaser, competing against each other. Ginny wanted to practice her chaser skills on her new broom, and they had agreed to help her out. Ducking down, Ginny narrowly avoided a bludger sent her way by Fred.

Meanwhile, George managed to intercept the ball and keep it from barreling back around towards Fleur who was just a few yards behind Ginny on her own firebolt. Fleur had her stuff brought over the previous evening from Shell Cottage and had officially moved into the Barrows.

After two hours of zooming through the air, they called it quits. Ginny had managed to beat Fleur 80-70. A narrow victory. They were clearly both very talented players as their performance demonstrated.

Heading back inside, they went upstairs to stow away their brooms before joining Fred and George in the downstairs parlor. "So, on a scale of one to ten, how pissed are mom and dad right now?" Ginny asked, flopping down onto the sofa.

"Well they're far from pleased about you moving out and letting Fleur stay with you, but dad was a bit proud of you for helping to capture four death eaters, although mum gave him a right ear full when she heard him mention it," Fred stated.

"She's afraid you're going to get yourselves killed sooner or later," George added.

"Still, we're pretty impressed. Way to go. Ronniekins is all grown up and fighting death eaters." Fred said, pulling Ron into a headlock.

Struggling to break free, Ron shot Fred a glare, before sighing. "Any news from Harry and the order?" He asked, looking at the twins.

"Not yet. Whatever their working on has them all pretty busy. Kingsley was at the shop yesterday, but he only stayed for a few minutes." George replied.

"Really? What did he want there?" Ginny asked, sitting up and looking at them eagerly.

"He bought a few things, mostly Peruvian instant darkness powder and some temporary glamour items," Fred said.

"Why did he buy those?" Ron asked, curiously.

"He didn't say. He just paid and left." Fred said.

"So how is business going?" Ginny asked.

"Pretty well so far. We have some promising new inventions planned, and our contracts with the Ministry are helping us to expand our operation by opening a shop in France." George said.

"Zat is very impressive," Fleur said, walking into the room and sitting down beside Ginny on the sofa.

"Where's Luna? Wasn't she with you?" Ginny asked, looking at Fleur.

"She's still upstairs in her room. She said she wanted to be alone for a while." Fleur said.

"I'll go upstairs and check on her in a few minutes then," Ginny said, quietly.

A quiet pop sounded, and Twizzlers appeared. "Lunch is ready, master." She said, before disappearing with another soft pop.

"Finally. I'm starved. Will you be staying for lunch?" Ron asked, looking at the twins.

"Nah, Fred and I have to get back to the shop. We have a meeting with a Ministry representative about some of their standing orders." George said as Fred followed him to the floo at the end of the parlor. Saying their goodbyes, the twins departed, leaving Ron, Ginny, and Fleur alone in the parlor.

"I'm going to go check on Luna. I hope she's alright. I know things are hard for her right now." Ginny said.

"Do you want us to come with you, Gin?" Ron asked.

"Nah, it's fine. I'll be down for lunch in a bit." Ginny replied, leaving the parlor and heading for the stairs.

Nodding, Ron held out a hand to Fleur. "Will you join me for lunch then?" Ron asked, smiling as she nodded and stood, taking his hand.

TBC

Author's note. In the next chapter, we'll see a bit of a time skip.