Ron and Luna were both ushered into the kitchen, handed bowls of piping hot beet stew, and told to sit at the table while Ron's Mum cleaned them up. Luna sat next to Ron, tapping a staccato beat against her stew bowl with her spoon, humming softly. Ron was quiet, suffering through his Mum's examinations of his wellbeing with a sort of quiet dignity, and instead turned his attentions to eating his food. When she'd satisfied herself that they were alright, the redheaded matriarch went to the sink and began washing the plates and glasses from the meal she's shared with Ginny.

It was halfway through the meal that Molly Weasley realized that there was no bread for Luna. As she hadn't expected any guests to come over, there wasn't any bread left over if her boys were to each get a helping. She fretted over what to do; she'd already had supper with Ginny earlier, while they'd stayed up waiting for Ron to be brought back. Now there wasn't enough bread for Luna to have some with her stew, and even if she was rather small, Luna still needed more than a bowl of stew for supper, she and Ron had been out all night in the woods.

Looking up from the sink where she'd been washing dishes, she opened her mouth to apologize to Luna for the lack of bread, remained silent at the sight that met her eyes: Ron looked up from his food (an unusual sight in itself) and noticed Luna didn't have any bread with her stew. His brow furrowed in apparent thought for a moment, before Molly Weasley saw, to her silent delight, Ron tear his bread into uneven halves and pass Luna the larger piece under the table. Luna accepted the bread without saying anything, but she gave Ron's fingers a slight squeeze in thanks before dunking the bread hunk in her remaining stew and munching away.

Well, I'll be. My little Ronald's learned to share, and with Xenophous' little girl, no less! I'll have to thank her.

After supper was over, both children placed their cups, plates, and spoons in the sink. Luna offered to clean up, but was given a gentle but firm refusal, and told to go play upstairs. She'd nodded her head and taken hold of Ron's hand, something Molly noticed he didn't object to whatsoever, and promptly led her youngest son upstairs, talking quietly, and occasionally laughing.

Ron's bedroom was at the top of the house, under the attic, and was the smallest bedroom of the Weasley children. Ron warned his friend beforehand that upon entering his room, she was likely to be blinded by an extremely high amount of eye-watering orange. Luna had merely smiled at him, remarking that orange was a good color for inspiring creative ideas. Not sure what to make of this, as he'd never had an idea that he thought anyone would consider "creative", Ron opened the door and let Luna inside the somewhat cramped space. "Sorry if there's not much room," he said quietly, "but there's a lot of us living here, so my folks had to make do." Great, now I sound like a ruddy charity case. What's she going to think of me?

Silvery-grey eyes merely stared at him for a moment, not so much as an ounce of pity in them, before Luna replied, "Well, I think it's just great. I've never seen a house so interesting before; all the little rooms and all the stuff squished together, it makes a very energetic aura in here! You're very lucky."

Ron stared at her. "You know," he said, "I've never really met a girl quite like you. Other kids would probably tease me over something like this, but you...you just spout the most ridiculous, amazing things. And they're bloody brilliant."

Luna stared at him for a long moment. Then she took hold of his hand again, and yanked him forwards, causing him to tumble into a heap on the floor. "Oi, what was that for!?", he hissed, looking up at her to give a mild glare.

Luna gave him a sad, worried look. "You're babbling, Sir Ronald, the Wrackspurts must've gotten to you."

"What do you mean, I'm babb-...oh crud, you mean that those things are buzzing around inside my head!?", he said, alarm rising. Luna nodded seriously. "Don't worry," she said, "I know how to get rid of them." She demonstrated by waving her arms about her head, flapping her hands back and forth in front of her face and by her ears, as if swatting away flies or mosquitoes. "Try that for a bit, it should drive them off."

Ron nodded and began waving his hands about his head. A few moments later, Luna nodded and said, "It's ok, you can stop now. I think you drove them off. But just to make sure they don't come back, let's make you a pair of Spectraspecs to help you see with." She began rooting about his room, looking for things to put together to make the Spectraspecs. Ron wondered vaguely if he should stop her, but decided to let it pass. Luna didn't seem like the type of person who'd be fazed by a few pairs of dirty underwear, after all.

After a bit, upon asking if he could join in, Luna had nodded, telling him that he should help, as Spectraspecs always worked better if the person who was to wear and use them got involved in making them. "It's more powerful that way," she'd explained, "Your magic will run through it and the glasses will become attuned to your energy, so it will work better for you." Ron had then been handed a piece of cardboard, two glass orange and cherry pop bottles (which had been emptied of said pop several weeks earlier, during a hot afternoon by the pond in the backyard), and a bit of wire Luna pulled out of her jumper pocket.

Ron knew better than to ask what his friend was planning to do with the items to turn them into Spectraspecs, so he'd put them on his bed, and then began digging around in a pile of his dirty clothes by the door, rummaging in trouser pockets and holding up his findings for Luna to inspect. The shiny two pence and the bit of old string were rejected, but a small green and blue marble was accepted, as well as a shiny, blue-tinted raven's feather he'd found out on the windowsill one morning while cleaning the attic.

When they'd found everything that Luna claimed they needed to make the Spectraspecs, Luna and Ron cross-legged on his bed, facing each other, the spoils of their hunt spread out between them: the piece of cardboard, the pop bottles, the bit of wire, the green and blue marble, the raven's feather, and, at Luna's request, a strand of hair from each of them "to tie the whole thing together properly, so the next time I come over, I can see out of them too."

Ron tried not to get too excited about the idea of a "next time". It wouldn't do for Luna to see him too happy about it, after all. She'd probably think he was being affected by the Wrackspurts again, for being "overemotional".

Luna held her hand out over each of the items; to Ron's shock, he could see each item glowing a faint golden color. The cardboard began warping, slowly twisting itself into the shape of a basic pair of thick spectacles, the pop bottles squeezing themselves into a pair of round lenses, one orange, one cherry red. The green marble and raven's feather melted into a shiny puddle of some sort of jelly-like substance, oozing across the bedcovers and onto the spectacles frames to form a "paint" of some kind, and then having small "wings" form on either side of the lenses, almost like eyelashes. The bit of wire twined itself with the bits of hair from Luna and himself, forming a sort of braid, which wrapped itself around the glasses frame and melted away, oozing across the entire frame until the entire thing was an odd, off-orange color with hints of grey and dirty-blonde yellow. A few seconds passed, and then the "paint" began changing colors, turning a light purplish-pink and gaining little specks of lavender across it. The pop bottle lenses turned a golden-pink color, and gained small gauges in an outwards circular shape, like spots of pain being arranged into the shape of a flower. The gauges eventually filled out and vanished entirely, leaving behind only the mark of their shape, now the color of lavender as well.

Seeing Ron's open-mouthed expression of surprise, Luna said simply, "My Daddy taught me how to do this. Neat, isn't it?" He nodded, too dumbstruck to find his voice. After a few moments, she picked up the Spectraspecs and put them on his face, saying, "Here, try them on."

Ron stared. He stared, and stared, and stared. In his entire life, he'd never seen anything like this.

His entire room was glowing a faint golden color, which Luna explained meant that it was full of magic absorbed from him over the years. The air was literally vibrating with magical energy, small sparks of blue electricity popping up in air around himself and Luna. And there were creatures. Lots of creatures.

The Wrackspurts, from what he could now see, were tiny little things, and rather furry, with little folded over ears like those on a Scottish Fold cat, and small, translucent oil-slick rainbow wings like those found on houseflies. They had two tiny, oval-shaped furry feet, looking like a kitten's, and a little black nose like a puppy's, and a little pink tongue. A pair of tiny, jewel-bright eyes stared at him as one flew right in front of his face. Ron stared at the Wrackspurt. The Wrackspurt stared back.

By Merlin, he'd never seen such eyes before; it was as if he was drowning in them, drowning in what he could see in them. Those eyes were old, he could tell, much older than anyone he knew. Visions of far-off rolling green hills, deep fields of sweet grasses and colorful wildflowers, huge, towering trees with branches that bottled out the sun, clouds so high up the world looked like a child's playset, golden beaches and seashells with endless, twisting spirals...

"Ron, stop looking! They're too strong!" Luna's voice suddenly snapped him out of his trance, as she pulled him away and sat behind him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders as she said to the Wrackspurts, much like a parent scolding a misbehaving child, "Stop it, he's not for your amusement. It's not very nice to send someone into your memories, and you know it."

Ron blinked several times as he tried to come back to himself. "Wha...what just happened?", he said, surprised to find his voice suddenly hoarse.

Luna patted him on the shoulder, saying quietly, "Next time, don't look into their eyes. They've got some strong little tricks to pull on people."

Nodding weakly, he mumbled an, "Ok," and pulled the Spectraspecs off. Immediately, the colors around him ceased, the Wrackspurts vanishing as if they had never been. Trying to shake off the bizarre, otherworldly feeling from earlier, he pulled out his old chess set and asked Luna of she wanted to play. She nodded.

The chess set was rather old, the stone and wood worn in some places from age and use, but the figures still worked quite well. Luna stared at him for a moment as he chose the Knight as he primary chess piece. "What is it?", he asked.

"It's tarnished", she said quietly, pointing to the piece's rainbow patina. Ron felt his ears burn. I must look like an idiot, playing with such an old set, there's newer models out anyway...Maybe I should've polished this set earlier...

"It's alright, you know."

"Wh..what?", he asked, looking up at her. "It's alright to have something tarnished, it means that the outer layer is protecting the layers underneath, it keeps the metal of the whole thing from reacting. In many places, this is a good thing. And plus, the rainbow sheen is kind of pretty."

Ron stared at her for a moment before grinning slightly. "Again," he repeated to her, "Bloody brilliant."