Author's Note: Major thanks to all my readers. I know I would have kept writing, but I don't think it would have been half as fun without the knowledge that people enjoyed my work. And to those of you who review, you make my day. So, THANK YOU! (Still not Rowling. Sigh.)

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PS: If anyone needs a beta, I am registered to be one now, just FYI. :)

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For almost three weeks, Luna lived with Hermione and George. She was a pleasant guest, keeping to herself when they were at work, helping with dinner, and even cleaning without being asked, but simply doing so out of gratitude. Finally, as a month had passed of Ron and Luna's separation, or Luna's disappearance, to be more accurate, Hermione came to Luna's door and knocked on it softly. A soft voice called, beckoning Hermione into the room. She walked in slowly and saw a marked change to the room. George had told Luna to change the room's colors to suit her fancy so as to make her more at home. Hermione had been shocked at this, because this would mean changing Fred's room.

She had brought it up when they were in bed, about to turn out the lights. She saw him visibly tense before flicking his wand and extinguishing the lights. There was a long silence as he laid himself down and stared up at the ceiling.

"George…?" Hermione inquired quietly.

He shifted and turned to face her, a strained look evident on his face even in the darkness. "I just want her to be happy. She deserves to be happy, wherever she is. She's always had people being miserable to her because she different. Fred used to stand up for her when we were at school. I mean, I did too, but he would get real angry about it, just like Ginny did. He'd have wanted me to take care of her."

His face worked and he coughed, clearing his throat. This attempt to hide the upsurge of emotion at talking about his twin was not lost on Hermione, who scooted over and wrapped her arms around her husband, his head resting on her shoulder. "I'm sure he would have. And I think you're doing a marvelous job of continuing what he would have wanted. Not just with Luna, but with the shop, with yourself, with everything." She heard George clearing his throat again and felt a rogue tear sliding down her shoulder blade as the hold around her waist tightened. She knew that no matter how much better he seemed, George was still hurting immensely. She doubted that the pain would ever go away, and only she knew when the guard came down and he was feeling vulnerable. She held onto him as though he was the only thing keeping her afloat in a storm-tossed sea, and he held her, if possible, even tighter, afraid. Afraid of the dark thoughts that still haunted him in his dreams, afraid of letting Fred down, afraid of letting himself be hurt and vulnerable again, afraid of falling back into the black hole that had been his life before Hermione.

"Wow Luna," Hermione said, looking at the walls. "Did you do all this by hand?" There were beautiful murals all over the walls, done with a kind of ink that made the drawing almost come to life. One wall was a painting of Hogwarts, its lights glowing in the dusk, a few stars just starting to twinkle. Another wall was a collection of all of Luna's creatures, all moving around. There were two walls blank, which had so far been left the green color George had chosen.

Luna looked up from what appeared to be a sketchbook and smiled at Hermione. "Yes," she replied, a note of pride in her voice. "I hope you don't mind."

Hermione smiled at her and shook her head. "It's wonderful. I think it might need to stay like this forever."

"Well, when it's finished, of course. I still have three walls to do."

Hermione, confused, wrenched her eyes away from the paintings to look at Luna again. "But there are only two walls left, Luna."

Luna smiled. "The ceiling as well. I was going to do the floor, but I wanted to ask George about it before I did it."

Hermione was stunned into silence. "It's fantastic, Luna. But I need to talk to you about something." Hermione sat down on the bed and Luna followed suit. "Luna, you've missed three Weasley dinners. You have to go."

"I just-"

"I know, Luna. You don't want to see Ron. You heard him, though. You saw him. He's a wreck without you. At least give him a chance to try and apologize. I'm not saying you have to go and everything will be perfect, but at least give him the benefit of the doubt. Plus, Molly will probably implode if you miss a whole month of Weasley dinners." Hermione smiled at Luna, whose protuberant eyes had been downcast during the conversation.

Luna sighed. "You're right. I know. But I'm still going to do that trick, whatever George was making."

"I don't know if that's such a good-"

"I'VE DONE IT!" The shout rent the air, followed by the front door slamming, drowning out the rest of Hermione's sentence. A second later, George charged into the room, eyes sparkling and a huge grin on his face.

"What is it?" asked Luna and Hermione simultaneously.

"You'll see tonight. Just trust me." Hermione looked uneasily at her excited husband. Whatever it was, it was not going to be good.

Hermione and George apperated to the Burrow and started walking, Luna apperating a few feet back, so it would look as though they had not come together. As they walked down towards the garden, they could see that the table was just getting its last dishes and people were sitting down. Hermione had used a patronus to send Ginny and Harry the message that Luna was coming and to not let there be an open spot next to or near Ron. Ginny had assured her she would inform the rest of the family, minus Mrs. Weasley and Ron, and make sure Luna could keep her distance. As the opened the gate to the garden, a shout was just audible over all the talking.

"LUNA!"

It was Ron.

"Dinner!" Mrs. Weasley called, ushering Ron to his seat, Harry and Bill immediately flanking Ron, Ginny and Percy filling the other half of the table, leaving Luna with the seat farthest from Ron. Ron tried to get up, but with a sharp "Sit!" from Ginny, he sat, desperately trying to catch his wife's eye as she said hello to everyone. Dinner was served and everyone seemed to be have a good time, albeit trying to gloss over the awkwardness of Ron desperately trying to catch Luna's eye during the meal and her determinedly ignoring him. They were just finishing the main course when something odd started happening to Ron's plate. Harry was the first to notice, and was thankfully quick enough to suppress his shout of surprise and revulsion. What had been left on his plate, mere crumbs and bones, was slowly turning into spiders. Spiders as big as your pinkie nail to spiders as big as a baby's fist. They started slowly crawling around his plate, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. Ginny now noticed and suppressed a scream. Finally, Ron turned back to his plate and stared at the plate for a second, taking in what was happening, then screamed. The spiders had formed the word "LUNA" and he struggled, desperately trying to push his chair backwards, but it seemed to be stuck to the floor, not allowing him to leave. The spiders then shuffled to "APOLOGIZE." Everyone stared at his plate now, able to see it now that the food had been magic-ed away. Ron had stopped screaming and his struggling lessened as he stared at the plate, now changing into one final word – "LOVE." There was silence so absolute, it was as if no one was breathing, as they watched the spiders suddenly turn back to the remains on his plate. He continued to stare at the plate, as if still seeing the spiders. He looked up, and looked at Luna, a look of fierce determination on his face. She didn't see it, however, as she was too busy staring at the plate in shock. He got up and walked around the table and forcefully turned her chair around so she was facing him. She made to say something, but he said quickly, "Please. Let me speak." Luna's mouth shut with an audible snap and she, along with the rest of the family, gave Ron her full attention.

"Luna, I've been a git. I know I can be a git quite often, but this time more than usual. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. It was immature and stupid. I think it came from years of it always being Harry, Hermione and me. It was always the three of us, so I felt a bit, I dunno, possessive. I shouldn't have and I'm sorry. I don't love Hermione. I mean, I do, but not the way I love you. I love her because she has been one of my best friends for nine years. I love you because you're my wife and because you sing lullabies in the shower and hum yourself to sleep. I love you because no matter how often people try to argue that the blibbering humdinger and the crumple-horned snorkak and all those other creatures are figments of your imagination, your belief that they exist has never faltered. I love you because you always know how to calm me down and when to put me in my place."

The corners of Luna's mouth tugged upwards, against her will.

"I know neither of us wanted this arrangement originally, but we stuck with it and I have never made a better choice. I've been a wreck without you. I can't sleep, I can't eat, I can barely think straight. I tried to find you, and I even gave you space, but I can't do this anymore. You know that house over on the next hill, the cottage with the little garden that you like so much?"

"Yeah?" said Luna, her voice quiet.

"I bought it for us. And apparently it's overrun with gnomes." He gave a hopeful little smile. "Luna, please come home."

There was a beat of silence in which no one moved. Then, without warning, Luna burst into tears and threw herself at Ron, burying her face into his chest and wrapping her arms around his waist. He beamed and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, holding on tight, as though afraid to ever let go of her again. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head, which reached to just below his chin.

George started clapping, shocking everyone out of their silence. Ginny and Percy laughed and Hermione and Harry started clapping along. Mrs. Weasley had, to no one's surprise, started crying quietly during Ron's speech and was now wiping her streaming eyes. Soon the whole family was applauding for the couple, who grinned giddily.

"Mum?" Ron said, looking over Luna at his mother. "I'm going to take Luna home. Thanks for dinner."

"Thank you," echoed Luna, whose arms were still wrapped tightly around Ron.

Mrs. Weasley beamed at them and waved them away. They walked a few feet, then disapperated with a crack!

"Clever prank, George. Who knew you were a bit of a Cupid?"

Surprisingly, this comment came from Percy, who was smiling appreciatively at George.

"How did you manage to change his food?"

"A powder sprinkled on his food and a spell to activate it. I'm going to market them with different things that scare people. What do you think?"

"Quite clever indeed. But if I find something like that on my dinner plate, you won't be alive for very much longer," said Percy with a smile. The family laughed as Ginny spoke up.

"I'm so glad everything worked out."

"Ron's really matured in a very short time," said Mr. Weasley from the other side of the table.

"I wonder when we'll get the news!" said an excited Mrs. Weasley.

"What news?" asked several people at the table.

"About when I'll have more grandchildren on the way!" said Mrs. Weasley happily.

The couples at the table groaned and George spoke up.

"Mum, it's sick how excited you are getting about your kids getting knocked up."

"GEORGE!" shouted Ginny, Hermione, and Mr. And Mrs. Weasley. Bill and Harry just slapped their palms to their foreheads.