CHAPTER TWENTY

It was two weeks before Harry and Ginny's wedding on 5 May. Ron and Hermione had been spent most of their time together working hard with the couple getting things planned and ready. Ginny was especially grateful for their help as it meant her mother was less involved and consequently, less overbearing. Ron was all set for Harry's stag night and Hermione had everything arranged for Ginny's Hen party. Both Harry and Ginny were relieved that Hermione and Ron were back together and secretly laughed at the way the new/old couple bickered like they always had. One morning Harry floo'd over looking for Ron and much to his dismay had discovered that Ron and Hermione had fully reestablished their physical relationship and were doing so right there in the kitchen. He managed to leave without them knowing and reported the happy development to Ginny. Harry asked Ron about it the next morning and Ron confessed that they were usually spending the night together at Vine Cottage.

Ron was headed home from work on Friday after a long week. He was deeply involved in a case that overlapped into France. Dealing with the French had caused Ron a ton of frustrations as the other country's protocols were much more formal and tedious. It made Ron even more grateful that the Chief had embraced numerous reforms he had proposed that simplified and hastened investigations in Britain. Ron had wanted to move on several instances but had been hamstrung by all the approvals needed by the French Ministry. 'Hell,' he thought, 'the French Aurors probably need written permission to wipe their asses. At this rate we'll get nothing done before Christmas. Shit, this is driving me crazy.'

When he arrived at Vine Cottage he was surprised to see Luna in his lounge. Her eyes were red and she was slumped over on the sofa. Throwing down his cloak and bag he rushed over to her and sat down next to her and reached and pulled her into his arms. Luna just sobbed into his chest.

"Lu, what's wrong? Why are you crying? I didn't expect you to see you till next week. What's wrong?"

Ron kissed the top of her head and waited patiently as she continued to cry. He rocked her gently and just held her. After several minutes the sobbing slowed and Lu gently lifted her head and looked at Ron.

"It happened again to me, Ron. I got dumped again, just like last time, only this time I thought I was getting married." She stopped for a moment then buried her face into his chest again and wailed, "nobody will ever love me, nobody wants to be with me, nobody!"

Ron held on and just waited. "I'm here Lu, I'm here. You are loved, Lu, you are. When you're ready I'm here to listen."

Luna slowly stopped crying again sat up and wiped her eyes. She gave Ron a sad smile and started, "I hope it's ok I'm here, Ronald, I didn't know where else to go."

"Of course you're welcome here, Lu. Always. What happened?"

"It all started when we went back after your birthday. Rolf didn't like the kiss I gave you and we argued about that. Then I started talking about Ginny and Harry's wedding, and I asked Rolf when it was that we were going to get married because we'd been engaged for awhile and we should set a date, and we argued about that. It seemed we were arguing about everything. I told Rolf we needed to come home for Ginny's wedding a bit early so we could get things settled instead of being out on safari and we argued about that. So I told Rolf that I was going home early and I wanted him to come with me and he said no. I told him I was going anyway and then he said 'Ok, we're done, we're over, I never really wanted to get married anyway.' So I took off my ring and threw it at him and then left. All I could think about was seeing you Ron so I came here."

"Oh, Lu, I'm so sorry. You deserve to be treated better than that. I'm glad you came. It is so good to see you, I've missed you a lot." Ron was surprised at how good he felt learning that Lu was no longer engaged. He somehow felt just a little bit lighter inside.

"I just remembered how good you made me feel when Neville broke up with me, I'm hoping you can help me survive this. I lost my stone in the jungle and I can't remember the words to our song anymore, so I need you Ron, to help me remember how to survive."

Ron laughed to himself at the concept of 'their' song, but did remember how good they were for each other. Hard to believe that was almost a year ago, so much had happened since then, especially with Hermione, and he wasn't sure how to tell Lu about them being a couple again. It was almost as if he were embarrassed that he was back with Hermione. 'How strange' he thought to himself. 'I wonder what that means?'

Ron knew that Lu need all his attention that night so he sent a patronus to Hermione explaining about Lu and how he had to cancel their date tonight so he could take care of her. Hermione responded that she understood and offered her help as well.

Lu stayed in the lounge as Ron made them dinner. It felt just like it did back when they were roommates. Ron talked about what had been going on since his birthday, the big case he was working on. He couldn't help but notice the disappointed look Lu had when he explained how he and Hermione gotten back together.

After hearing all that had happened to get Ron and Hermione back together, Luna looked at Ron with a smile and said, "I'm happy for you Ronald if you're happy. I hope that Hermione treats you better than before, because you deserve to have someone love you, truly love you. I hope it works out for you two."

"We seem to be getting along fine, just the occasional bickering that we've always done. We've been really focused on Ginny and Harry's wedding plans, that's almost all we've been doing together."

After dinner and cleaning up, Ron asked Lu, "can I take you home? I'm sure your father would like to see you."

Lu said, "Daddy's not home this week, he's at some conference in Paris. Something about newspapers, he's getting the Quibbler back up and needs to learn about new ways of doing stuff like that."

"Oh, I'm sorry he's not here," said Ron.

She looked sheepishly at the floor and replied quietly, "could I stay here like I used to? I don't want to be alone right now."

"Of course you can stay, you were my old roommate. The bed in the spare room is still there."

Lu looked up and bashfully said, "I mean, like we really we used to. I would love to fall asleep next to you like we did before, would that be ok? Just as friends again?"

Ron was conflicted. "Lu, remember what happened the last night you were here? The night of the Halloween Ball?"

"Yes Ron, it was the best night of my life and I loved every minute of it. I think back on it all the time. The Ball and especially what happened after we came home. You don't know how hard it was to leave the next day. I always wonder what would have happened if I had stayed."

"But I'm with Hermione now, it wouldn't look good. She knows that we had sex one time, so she probably wouldn't approve."

To Ron's surprise, Lu laughed softly. "One time? I hardly think it was one time that night. I lost count how many times you got me there that night. One time? Ha!"

"You know what I mean, Lu. If you promise that you will be like the first night you were here when we were just friends, and not like the last night, I can see you sleeping in my bed one night. We just have to be careful how we talk about it, and I have to be honest with Hermione. No more lying in our relationship."

That same Friday night Hermione was at home having heard from Ron about Luna being back and her breakup with Rolf. She actually was glad to have the night at home to continue working on her latest big project. Finally, after all these months of talking and learning and analyzing, she was putting together her proposal for reorganizing, revamping and improving the efficiency of the Ministry, and she was very excited. She hoped Luna was ok, and she knew that Ron would take good care of her.

She was surprised though when Ron's patronus showed up again right before bedtime. Ron's voice came through clearly and deliberately, "Hermione, Lu is still pretty upset about everything and she asked if she could stay here tonight with me, and…" here Ron's voice faltered just a bit. "And she wants it to be just like before where she sleeps in my bed with me. Full honesty is what we are doing so I wanted to let you know and ask if it was ok."

Hermione was now dismayed. Should she say no, which would imply she didn't trust him, or should she say yes and run the risk of Luna getting too close to Ron? She finally decided to trust Ron and sent her patronus back with the message, "I'm ok with it Ron because I trust you and I know you're doing this to help Luna, and I'm grateful for the honesty. Give my best to Luna, and goodnight. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow."

Ron and Lu got ready for the night just as they always had. As before, Lu crawled into Ron's king size bed and snuggled up against his right side with Ron's right arm wrapping around her.

"Thank you Ronald for letting me stay here again, and thank Hermione for me as well. I always feel so safe and warm and loved when I'm with you. Good night Ron."

And just like their first night together, Luna leaned up and gave Ron a quick kiss. She whispered against his lips, "thank you Ron, thank you," and then snuggled back down on Ron's chest.

Ron's eyes flew open after the kiss. What was going on? Why did he feel so comfortable with Lu here? Shouldn't he be feeling anxious with someone other than Hermione next to him? Why did this feel so normal? He realized how much he had missed Lu and wondered at how glad he felt that she was back, and back with him. He tried to sleep not knowing really what he was feeling, but it was late into the night that his eyes finally closed after pondering all that he was feeling.

The week before the wedding went by quickly. Both the Stag Party and the Hen Do had gone over wonderfully thanks to Ron and Hermione's extensive planning. Both Ron and Hermione were really busy with his international case and her reorganization project, so they didn't get to spend much time together before the wedding. Luna had reluctantly returned to her childhood home after agreeing with Ron it would be for the best. The first night she was gone though, Ron realized that he missed having her there.

But here they were. Harry and Ginny were married, the speeches had been given and it was time to dance. Harry and Ginny danced the first song by themselves and were well applauded by the large crowd. The second song started and Ron looked over at Hermione and asked, "Come and dance? I'm still pretty good"

"I would love to," she replied and took his hand as he guided her onto the dance floor with the rest of the wedding party. She relished the feeling of being in Ron's arms and the elegance of dancing so wonderfully with him. They smiled at each other and congratulated each other on the successful completion of their Best Man and Maid of Honor duties. They both expressed gratitude that it was almost over now and they could start thinking about something other than the wedding.

Ron leaned in and whispered in her ear. "'Mione, we should get away next weekend. Go someplace just the two of us and celebrate surviving this wedding. Talk about and work or anything else that's not this wedding."

Hermione laughed and replied, "that would be great. I can't remember spending a night without something wedding related happening or being planned, except that one night when Luna first came home."

"Wonderful, I'll find us a place on the coast where we can just get away. Can you get away at 5pm on Friday?"

"I'll be sure to. Thank you, Ronald for thinking of us."

The song ended and they walked over to their seats. They passed Lu on the way who had been dancing with George. Luna looked up at Ron and smiled. Ron smiled back and after getting Hermione to her seat turned to Luna and asked, "Hey Lu, would you like to dance?" and held out his hand.

"Of course, Ronald, I would love to." She took his hand and they walked out to the dance floor.

Hermione looked on as George sat next to her. George leaned over and said, "so glad you and Ronniekins got your heads out of your arses and are together again, although Luna there looks to be on the hunt"

Hermione laughed and said, "always the charmer, George and don't worry, I trust Ron."

Lu was so happy to be back in Ron's arms. She had missed sleeping in his bed but understood why she had to move home. "Oh Ron, you look so good and it feels so good to be held by you again. I so love dancing with you. I glad that Hermione is willing to share you just a little bit."

Ron laughed and smiled at her and replied, "No worries, Lu, and you look great yourself. So glad you're here and safe. So, what are you going to do now?"

"I'm so excited! I just got the owl today! Hagrid is retiring next year and Headmistress McGonagall wants me to go to Hogwarts to be his assistant this fall, and then to take his place as the Magical Creatures Professor the next year. I'm this close to my mastery and will finish next month. I'm so excited and you're the first person I wanted to tell."

Ron picked Lu up and gave her a spin and said, "That's wonderful, Lu, congratulations!" He then gently put her down and kissed her cheek. "That's so cool."

As Ron walked Lu back to the wedding party table, he marveled at how wonderful it felt to dance again with Lu. He really had missed her and was just starting to realize how much. He again asked himself, 'what is going on with me? Why do I feel so good being with Lu again?'

After dancing the rest of the night with Hermione and one time with his sister, the bride, Ron took Hermione and apparated to Vine Cottage. They both got ready for bed and were looking forward to spending the night together for the first time since Luna had returned. Hermione crawled into Ron's bed and cuddled into his left side. Ron leaned over and kissed her soundly then softly said, "I'm glad to be together tonight, 'Mione, but I'm really tired after all that happened this week and today. Can I make it up to you tomorrow?"

"Oh Ron, you've read my mind. All I want to do is sleep right now, so thanks, tomorrow is good. Goodnight Ron."

Hermione gave Ron one last kiss and rolled onto her left side away from Ron.

Ron noticed how empty his arms felt. A vision of Lu snuggled into his right side appeared in his mind, and Ron thought to himself, 'why am I thinking about Lu right now? Oh shit, what is going on with me?'