A/N: Be forewarned, updates for this story will be rather infrequent because I am focusing most of my creative efforts on my main multi-chapter Pre-Canon AU Snily fic that I am still in the midst of writing and planning, A Better World. Updates to this fic shall come, but I can't give promises on when or how frequent they shall be. Hope you enjoy this Post-War AU exploring a relationship between Ron and Astoria!

A Surprise Meeting

"It's you?"

The first words out of the perplexed Ronald Weasley's mouth were a sharp question; actually, an accusation would be a more apt descriptor of his tone. For he was staring at the last person he thought would be his date for the evening. Harry Potter, his best friend, his co-worker and more recently, his number one wingman had taken it upon himself to find Ron a girlfriend ever since his breakup with Hermione. For the past several months following his breakup with the aforementioned final member of the Golden Trio, Harry had been setting up Ron on various blind dates with women who he thought would hit it off with his best friend. In the three months he'd been single following his breakup, Ron had been on over a dozen dates with there never being a shortage of women interested in dating one of the saviors of the wizarding world. Needless to say, there had been no followups, although three of the girls that he'd had the pleasure of meeting ended up becoming friends of his later on which indeed was a pleasant surprise. On the dating front however, he'd been to bat fourteen times and had struck out on all occasions.

The girl just a few paces away from him however was no stranger to Ron Weasley, not at all. Unlike the prior fourteen dates he'd been on where he actually hadn't met or known the woman prior, he was very well acquainted with the cute blonde standing across from him. For they were co-workers, and she was a few years his junior at school. Beyond that, Ron had served as her mentor when she'd applied and been accepted to the Auror force. She'd attained one of the highest possible scores in the entrance exam, second only to the chosen one himself and higher than Ron's even and she had proven a quick learner and soaked up Ron's information and advice like a sponge after she had mellowed out and learned to appreciate him as a teacher.

When they had first met Ron had harbored an intense disdain for his disrespectful, rude and standoffish trainee. An incident three months into her training however had put a cap on her attitude and said incident resulted in her gaining massive amounts of respect for the redheaded war hero. Over time, as she mellowed and grew into a woman he could trust, he had grown to become very good friends with her and would probably go so far as to say that he'd trust her with his life, a sentiment she shared. It was an odd feeling for the brash Gryffindor, especially considering that his trainee had been one of those untrustworthy, slimly snakes. Despite getting off on the wrong foot and having numerous fights and arguments for the entire department to see, they had grown to become friends and now co-workers since she too was a newly minted Auror. The woman standing before him, just entering his field of view from the shadows, was none other than his friend, colleague, and former Auror trainee, Astoria Greengrass. The girl had the audacity to grin cheekily at him as she made her presence known.

"Surprised?" She asked, her deep blue eyes dancing in mirth.

"Bloody hell it is you!" Ron exclaimed, slapping his palm against his forehead. "What on earth are you doing here?"

Astoria's lips twitched briefly into a smile, as her eyes softened. "I'm here for our date you goof, what else?" She asked teasingly.

Ron shook his head once, then twice, "this—this must be some mistake…you were dat—"

"We broke up a couple weeks ago," Astoria cut him off, stepping closer to him. "I don't want to get into details but…things weren't working out between us."

Ron gave her a sad, awkward, little smile that didn't quite seem sincere. "It's no secret that I'm not a fan of the ferret…but I am sorry things didn't work out for you," he offered.

"It's alright," Astoria said quickly, a broader smile on her face. She stepped closer to him and slipped her fingers between his. "It's as I said, things weren't working out between us and well…I've had my eyes on someone else."

"Do you now?" Ron asked, shooting her a wry grin.

"Indeed I do," Astoria responded primly, tightening her grip on his hand. "Shall we?" She went on, tilting her head to the Alleyway's exit

Ron merely nodded and they walked out of the alleyway to which they'd apparated. They stepped onto the pavement and began walking up the street towards an Italian restaurant that Harry had recommended him a while back. He'd brought Ginny there for their first anniversary and needless to say, they'd both loved it immensely. Given Ron's love of all things Italian, he arranged Ron's next blind date there.

"So how's work?" Ron asked, shooting his friend a sidelong glance as he attempted to vill the void of silence that had settled between them.

Astoria couldn't quite hold back an amused snort. "Really Ron? That's the best you can come up with?" She asked dryly. "It's still me Astoria, there's no need to be so stiff about everything now that we're on a date."

"It was a genuine question," Ron grumbled, stuffing one hand in his trouser pocket. "It's been what…a month since your graduation ceremony? And a full-time Auror's first month is always their most stressful and tiresome so how was it?"

"Stressful and tiresome," Astoria parroted quickly, glancing back at him to observe his reaction.

Ron snorted and rolled his eyes at her cheek, muttering 'of course' under his breath. Her cheek as well as her attitude and general disrespectfulness towards authority figures had gotten her into plenty of trouble during the time she had served as his trainee. For the first few months of their professional relationship as instructor and trainee, Astoria was awfully insubordinate. She would question him whenever she felt like it, she would call out his decisions and orders in the middle of the department for all to see. Worse than that, she had deliberately disobeyed him in the field on more than one occasion. Once, he had even docked her trainee pay which while it admittedly wasn't a boatload of Galleons, was still a substantial amount. Even though Astoria's attitude and abrasiveness towards him had improved leaps and bounds since they'd met, she still had plenty of cheek to spare.

"I should have known you'd say that," Ron muttered.

"I may have mellowed out Ronald Bilius Weasley, but I am still that ignorant, arrogant—what was the full title you called me that one time?"

Ron grinned then, grasping her hand tighter as they stepped off the pavement and onto the crosswalk. Just on the other side of the road sat their destination. "I believe it was, ignorant, arrogant, disrespectful, untrustworthy snake if I remember correctly."

"Indeed it was," Astoria replied, grinning back at him.

They took care to avoid the numerous puddles of water in their path and made it to the other side of the street just a second shy of the light turning red. Astoria opened her mouth to speak once more, but a raised hand from Ron stilled her tongue. "Let's get settled in first yeah?" Was all he said as his hand slipped out from hers.

He pushed the glass door open and Astoria slipped in past him before he let said door shut.

"A reservation for Two at Six Thirty. Should be under Weasley," Ron informed the waitress.

The girl nodded and glanced down at a clipboard in front of her. "Give me just a moment sir, and I'll—ah, yes! Reservation for two at any of the window tables correct?" The girl asked, glancing at him, then at Astoria in turn.

"That sounds about right," Ron replied. "Astoria is that cool with you?"

She nodded, her loose honey blonde curls bobbing up and down as she did so. "That sounds great," she replied. She turned to face the waitress and said, "lead the way please."

The waitress nodded and grabbed two menus as well as a wine list. She lead them through the packed restaurant towards a corner booth by the window that overlooked the rain-soaked street they'd just crossed. Ron moved around the table to hold out Astoria's chair as she took her seat, she flashed him a grateful smile as he moved back around to his side of the table and slid into his own seat.

When they had both situated themselves, the waitress said, "a server will be with you guys in a little while. We're kinda packed tonight but they shouldn't be too long."

Astoria and Ron both nodded at the girl with the former murmuring a thank you. She then excused herself to get back to her post at the front of the restaurant.

"What are you thinking of getting?" She asked, peering at him over the top of her menu.

Ron shrugged. "Harry told me the uh…the clam Spaghetti—"

"Vongole," Astoria offered, smiling knowingly.

"Yeah…that one. Anyway Harry said it's pretty good, so I think I'll get that and a Pinot Noir. You?"

Astoria's gaze morphed to one of curiosity. "You like clams?"

"Yeah they're pretty good I find…although I've never had 'em in a Pasta before though. Why do you ask?" Ron asked, returning her gaze.

This time she was the one shrugging, "I didn't figure you to be a seafood kind of guy I guess. I mean…you stick with ham sandwiches pretty much all the time when we're at work so…"

Ron smirked and nodded his head, "fair point. Still, you haven't answered my question yet. What are you having?"

Astoria bit her lower lip in thought, releasing it with a pop as cerulean blue eyes scanned the page in front of her. "I think I'll go with the Lasagna. Never fails in my opinion."

"Oh yeah. Absolutely," Ron replied, as he nodded approvingly.

Ron raised his hand and a waiter appeared at their table promptly. He took their order and upon repeating it to them, dashed off to the kitchen to deliver their order.

"So…how long have you and Harry been planning this?" Ron asked as shifted his eyes from the crowd to his date.

Astoria lips quirked upward slightly and met his gaze. "A week ago actually, a few days after Draco and I went our separate ways coincidentally. He told me you were planning on seeing a healer from St. Mungo's last weekend for a date, I forget her name—"

"Sally," Ron said quickly, filling her gap in knowledge. "Sally Anne-Perks, class of '98," he went on.

"Yeah. That's her. Anyhow he asked me quietly one day after work, I believe you'd gone home early and he asked if I'd be interested. I accepted and well…here we are!"

"Harry's been at this for a while," Ron confessed with a sheepish grin. "I honestly think my mum's put him up to it…she seems to think I should find a nice girl and settle down sooner or later. Hell, even Charlie's got a girlfriend now leaving me the last bachelor standing for my family."

"Amen to that Ronald," Astoria replied. "Daph's already gotten hitched with Theo and mum had really been hoping I'd be able to tie the knot with Draco."

Ron's lip twitched at the mention of his former nemesis. "Speaking of whom, how is he these days?" He asked, trying his utmost to keep his disdain for his former classmate out of his tone.

"He's doing well…busy managing his father's businesses and all that but things just weren't working between us so we decided to call it quits."

Ron nodded thoughtfully, then reached for his glass to take a sip. "Same story with me and Hermione actually. She's still a good friend of mine and nothing will ever change that but she's so damn focused on work all the time I barely even saw her. Then we just started drifting little by little and well…as you said, things weren't working between us."

Astoria flashed him a small, sad, little smile and reached out her hand across the table to grasp his. "For what it's worth, I am sorry things didn't work out between you two. Daph always believed that you'd end up together and frankly…so did I at times."

Ron merely shrugged his shoulders and sighed. "I thought that once too," he admitted morosely. "But enough about that! We're not here to lament on exes are we? So tell me what convinced you to accept Harry's offer."

Astoria pulled her hand back as a sheepish grin formed on her face. "I guess I should go back to the beginning shouldn't I?"

"By all means, please do."

Astoria nodded, reached for her glass of water and took a long swig. She set the glass down with a soft clink atop the crisp, white tablecloth and her eyes searched out his. "You do remember what I was like during the beginning of my tenure right? How I acted towards you…and the others."

Ron scoffed and rolled his eyes. How could he forget? Astoria when she was first assigned to him after passing her entrance exam with flying colors was nothing short of a foul, hot-tempered menace in his opinion. While she was incredibly rude and disrespectful towards Ron early on, Astoria was a prodigy, there was no two ways about it. She had marginally inferior marks to the chosen one himself on her entrance exam to Auror school but she'd been good enough for the second highest marks amongst all Post-war applicants, second only to the aforementioned boy who lived. When she was paired up with Ron Weasley as her mentor and instructor for her training period, sparks were bound to fly, and not the good kind. Ron had built up a reputation amongst the Slytherins in and around Astoria's year at school as a hotheaded boy who must be avoided at all costs. He hated all things serpentine and loathed everything Slytherin stood for. In other words, stay out of his way and avoid confrontation with him was the message that was ingrained into Astoria's head.

Ron was shocked and dismayed to find that Astoria had been his newly assigned trainee. He was a newly minted Auror having just finished his own training program under Holly Thatcher and was looking forward to a solitary line of work when to his dismay, he was paired up with a brand-new trainee, the last thing he'd wanted. Beyond all that, the trainee also happened to be a Slytherin and while her parents were not death eaters and hadn't pledged themselves to the Dark Lord, they were sympathizers of his and Ron was shocked that they allowed the youngest of the Greengrass siblings to apply to the Auror force. He would begrudgingly admit that the girl was wicked smart, had a good head on her shoulders and she was breathtakingly beautiful to boot; but she was rude, arrogant, and refused to take orders from a 'Weasley'. She'd spoken his surname as if it were a curse and she couldn't wait to rid her tongue of those foul tasting syllables.

Ron and Astoria had disliked each other from the off. Astoria disliked the redheaded war hero for his attitude towards Slytherins and his overbearingness as her mentor, while Ron disliked her for the fact that she was a Snake and that she held no inkling of respect towards him. Their dislike some might say even bordered on hatred at times early on in their professional relationship and most of the department gave the always bickering, hotheaded pair a wide berth. Ron grew more and more frustrated as Astoria grew bolder and bolder as time went on, what started as a mutual dislike morphed into nigh-open rebellion as she deliberately disobeyed his orders several times in the field.

She was proud, brash, and utterly convinced that she knew better than Weasley, owing to her superior marks on her entrance exam. For the first month they were paired together, she disliked him and gave him the cold shoulder as much as she could; in the two months that followed however, their mutual dislike had grown to such a degree that she would actively disobey him in the field and would only listen to him around their superiors. Ron was convinced this was a symptom of her pureblooded 'proper' upbringing and that she couldn't bear to take orders and have to listen to someone as low down the totem-pole as Ronald Bilius Weasley. About three months into her training period under Ron when Astoria was at the height of her disobedience and they were reaching newfound levels of mutual hatred a single incident flipped their dislike on its head.

They had been out in the field on a mission to apprehend a suspected former death eater who had been smuggling dark artifacts from Cambodia into Britain. Ron, Astoria, Harry and his trainee Lionel Hodge had been conducting the raid. Ron had ordered her to tail him and flank around to the rear of the warehouse where they would set up anti portkey and apparation wards and enter the facility from the rear. Astoria, at the peak of her hotheadedness, believing with all her heart that she was smarter and knew better than him cast the wards herself and instead chose to enter the facility from the side, she never saw one of the henchmen waiting off to the side under the blanket of a disillusionment charm to cast a killing curse at her.

Astoria, for all her bravado and pride turned as the spell left the Death Eater's wands and saw the bolt of green hurtling through the air straight at her. She froze and did the first thing she could think of. Shield Charm. Needless to say, that green jet of light punched right through it like a bullet through glass. Ron, who had been barking at her, growing red in the face, transfigured the ground between her and her assailant into a solid brick wall that the spell impacted. He then disarmed and bound her would-be killer. Astoria had frozen stock still, her cerulean blue eyes as wide as a doe's as her life flashed before her eyes. Her gaze being filled with sickening green. The rest of the raid had gone off without a hitch as they apprehended the man and his associates and confiscated the dark artifacts they'd found in the warehouse. Astoria however had sat out the rest of the mission against her will, disarmed, bound by thick ropes and silenced by her furious mentor while he assisted Harry and Hodge in apprehending the suspects.

When Ron came out of the building with a death eater and a former supporter of the dark lord in tow, he was greeted with the sight of Astoria weeping on the grass at the base of the tree to which he'd bound her. Ron handed his apprehended suspects over to Harry and approached his crying trainee. The moment he freed her from her bindings she jumped to her feet and hugged him, fiercely—furiously and she almost knocked him off his feet. He hadn't even had a chance to free her vocal chords yet. In the aftermath of that incident, she'd gained new-found respect for her mentor and had mellowed out significantly.

Their animosity had slowly dissipated, and over time as she mellowed and valued his teachings and advice more and more, Ron's anti Slytherin sentiments and biases disappeared into the night much like Astoria's sense of superiority and disobedience. They were now good friends and co-workers, Ron being the more senior of course but now Astoria was a fully fledged Auror in her own right. They'd matured leaps and bounds and it seemed that that incident was the catalyst for them both to change and better themselves, learning from each other and filling their faults little by little. They never let the other know, but they were both thankful for what had happened that day.

"Of course I remember what you were like. You were all cold shoulder on me for the first month then an absolute menace to deal with for two months after that," Ron replied, snorting.

Astoria's lips twitched into a said facsimile of a smile and nodded. "Looking back…I was a right brat wasn't I?"

"You were," Ron conceded.

"You suspended me a few times Ron but…why did you never push for me to be fired or kicked out? I mean…looking back now you had a lot of patience for me and if I were in your shoes frankly I would've fired myself. So why didn't you?"

Ron took a moment to compose his answer, taking a moment to thank the waiter as he deposited a bread bowl, olive oil and vinegar on their table, then turning back to Astoria. "We needed you. Not just you, I mean…but everyone we could get our hands on. Our numbers were dwindling so…we needed all the help we could get. Robards was shocked when he saw your name on the applications list but he also knew we couldn't afford to let you go."

"Why is that?" Astoria asked, seemingly genuine confusion laced her tone as she leaned forward across the table.

Ron rolled his eyes, "Isn't it obvious? You're a bloody Greengrass, with coffers at the bottom of fucking Gringotts. We'd been facing financial ruin so if we accepted you and you became one of us, perhaps we'd benefit financially in the future."

"That does make sense," Astoria mused, tapping her chin in thought. "Still. I don't want to talk about work Ronald, this is a night for just us not Robards or anyone else. Two friends seeing if we can become something more."

"Something more?" Ron echoed, shooting her a curious glance.

"Well of course!" Astoria exclaimed exasperatedly. "Why else did you think I accepted Harry's offer?"

Ron's hand rose to scratch the back of his head as an awkward grimace formed on his lips, "Well…because you wanted to get a free dinner out of me?"

Astoria let out a hearty chuckle then, those cute dimples in her cheeks forming again that Ron had always admired from afar. "If I'm being honest Ron," she paused, taking another sip of her Bordeaux. "I do find you interesting and I have fancied you to an extent for a while now."

Ron's brows knitted in confusion. "You were literally dating Malfoy until two weeks ago and you claim you fancy me?" He asked, his incredulity at her assertion beyond obvious. "Come off it Astoria you're having me on. Don't play with me like that."

"I'm not lying," Astoria insisted, her voice coming out as a hiss. "I—it's gone back for some time…I think, ever since you-know-what happened. I—" she paused, flashing a sweet smile at their server as he set down Ron's Vongole and her Lasagna down.

She expelled a soft sigh then met his gaze. "I've felt this way for a while now Ron. I've tried to ignore it…push it out of my mind and focus on my relationship with Draco…try to salvage things and make it work between us…but I couldn't."

"You couldn't," Ron repeated, staring at her meaningfully.

She nodded once, then lifted her glass to her crimson colored lips to take another sip. "And I think you know why."

"When did this all start?" Ron asked quietly, averting his gaze to his plate as he fiddled with his fork.

"It's as I said. When that happened, in the aftermath I gained newfound respect for you and I—I was sorry for how I'd treated you before that. You didn't deserve that and frankly no one does. I was being a little shit and I was honestly astounded you hadn't cast me out yet when I realized how foul I was being. I started…liking you, I guess sometime around then. Then as we got closer, we filled the divide between us and we actually became friends. And then I realized…what's there not to like?"

"So you started liking me after that day…even when you were in a committed relationship with Malfoy," Ron said slowly.

"I tried not to bring attention to it, thinking it was a passing infatuation because you had saved me. So I thought it was just a gratitude thing, but as time went on, even though I still loved Draco I started liking you too. Out of respect of your relationship with Granger I tried to keep it hushed up but…" her voice trailed off into silence.

"But what?"

"As I said...I'd started falling for you quite some time ago," she said softly. All her bravado gone. "I—I knew you loved Granger so I did nothing, sat on my feelings and tried to work things out with Draco.. but I couldn't quite push my appreciation and feelings for you out of my head Ron. And these past few months have been torturous! I've hated it!"

"What've you hated about it?" Ron asked confusedly. "I'm single now so I thought you'd appreciate that wouldn't you?"

"Seeing you, every day at work, going off to meet some girl that Harry had set you up with for the umpteenth time. A woman that wasn't attracted to you, but the facsimile by which the public knows you as," Astoria went on, gesticulating wildly with both hands. "Ron Weasley, decorated war hero. Quintessential in the destruction of the Dark Lord and his death eaters. Not to mention that he's also an Order of Merlin First Class recipient. Let me guess…that's what they were interested in most wasn't it? Did even a single one of them know you as you truly are?"

Ron shook his head, but kept his response non-verbal.

She smiled, a true smile then as a flush rose on Ron's cheeks. "I know the real Ron Weasley," she said, still smiling, the words spilling from her lips as if they were a revered treasure. "He has horrific temper tantrums and jealous streak over a mile long. But he's also unflinchingly loyal to everyone that he truly cares for, he's noble to a fault and chivalrous beyond compare," her smile broadened as she took a stab of a piece of lasagna with her fork.

"That is the Ronald Weasley I know. And that is the man I've grown to care for. Faults, flaws, virtues and all. The entire package," Astoria went on, her entrancing cerulean blue eyes not leaving his for even a second. A silent plea for him to feel and bask in her sincerity, for she truly did like him.

Ron's lips twitched into a smile at her words, he swallowed his bite of food, then dabbed at a stain with a napkin. "Why did you never tell me?"

Astoria smiled in return, her left hand rising to tuck a few strands of blonde hair behind her ear. "I've had feelings for multiple boys before Ron, this isn't my first rodeo. I wanted to sort things out with Draco…I really did, but it's just that some bridges can't be crossed and Merlin knows we've both tried to make what we had work but it just wasn't happening. I want to try something new…and the fact that you've met with over a dozen girls over the past few months tells me you want to try something new too…Ron."

Ron's throat had run dry, in a good way though. Words failed him once more as he lost himself in the deep blue that held his gaze with resolve, confidence and dare he believe it…love. Dainty, yet strong fingers wound around his, squeezing them gently, as a soft smile formed on her crimson stained lips.

"What do you say Ron?" She prompted, still smiling. "You know me. So are you game?"

Ron snorted slightly, but a small grin formed on his lips then as he met her gaze sincerely. "I'd be a fool to resist wouldn't I?" He asked, teasing.

Astoria's smile morphed into a grin that matched his own, leaning back, she retracted her hand and downed the rest of her glass. Her smile alone told him her answer, and for the first time in a long time, the curl of someone else's lips sent his heart into a frenzy. He too then drained his glass and scooped one last spoonful of pasta into his mouth. His confidence and pride boosted by an ample amount of liquid courage, he asked; "do you wanna get out of here?"

Astoria turned away from him and raised her hand, gesturing for the cheque to a passing waiter.

"I thought you'd never ask."