Chapter Three – Meeting Luna

The next morning Ron headed down to the Great Hall to eat breakfast with his best friends. He was happy it was Saturday and there were no classes today. He hoped it would give him time this morning to talk a bit with Luna. Before leaving his dorm he pulled out his note from last night and reviewed what he now called Ginny's Rules. He was trying to memorize them all and hoped that today would be the start of getting himself together.

"Morning, Harry," he said to his best mate. "Good morning Hermione, your hair looks especially nice today," Ron said as he smiled to himself being very pleased he had remembered rule 1.

"Oh," replied Hermione with a bit of surprise in her voice. "Thanks Ron." She looked a bit puzzled and looked at Harry with raised eyebrows wondering to herself 'that was unusual."

Ron filled his plate with eggs bacon and toast and as he was taking his first bite he looked up and saw Ginny entering the hall. Her appearance made him suddenly remember rule 5. He put his fork down and reduced the amount of food by half.

'Damn,' he thought to himself, 'so much to remember. Slow down and not be gross when eating, oh and don't curse'. He sighed to himself and restarted eating, trying very hard to use his best manners.

Hermione looked over at Ron and asked, "Are you not hungry today, Ron? Normally you sort of just shovel your food in and today it seems you're eating at only half speed."

"No, I'm fine, Ginny just reminded me that I'm not at The Burrow and I don't have to worry about competing with the twins for food so I can slow down a bit and be a bit more presentable, so I'm trying that."

"Goodness," replied Hermione. "Now if you can not talk with your mouth full, I won't know who you are." Both Harry and Hermione gave a small chuckle while Ron just gave his best fake grin back at them.

Shortly after finishing eating. Ron saw Ginny walk toward him with who he presumed to be Luna Lovegood by her side. He closed his eyes and tried to remember all that he had heard and learned over the years about rule 3 – be a gentleman as they approached. When Ginny and Luna arrived, Ron stood and greeted Ginny with a small hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Morning Gin."

Ginny popped back from the surprising greeting and replied, "morning Ron, Harry, Hermione. I'd like to introduce my friend Luna Lovegood. Luna this is Harry, Hermione and by brother Ron."

Ron reached out and took Luna's hand and gave it a small shake. Grinning slightly, Ron looked at Luna and said, "Pleased to meet you Luna, it's nice to meet Ginny's friends."

Harry and Hermione responded the same. Luna had a big grin on her face. "Oh, I've always wanted to me you three and I'm so glad to be able to do it finally."

Ron smiled at Luna as he let go of her hand and said, "I love your earrings. Are they radishes?"

Luna smiled back, "oh yes, they are radishes and they're to keep away the nargles. My father gave them to me and I always wear them on Saturdays. Nargles don't like classrooms so they're not a problem on weekdays, but they love to infest the grounds and the hallways, so I have to be more careful on Saturdays."

Ron pondered how to respond to that, but he remembered rule 2 and said, "interesting. You'll have to tell me more about them sometime."

Hermione looked confused and turned to Harry. Harry smiled and mouthed the word 'later' and turned back to Ron.

Ginny looked at Luna and Ron and sort of pushed them together and towards the doorway to the grounds. "You two have some things to talk about, why don't you go take a walk down to the lake?"

Ron looked at Luna and said, "would that be ok with you, Luna? The sun is shining and it doesn't look that cold out."

"Oh, it would be marvelous. I haven't talked to the Giant Squid in several days. Let me go get my coat and I'll meet you by the door in ten minutes."

Ron replied "Excellent, I'll see you in a few then," as he left to go get his coat.

Ginny now sat down in what was Ron's place across from Harry and next to Hermione. Hermione turned to Ginny and quietly but forcefully asked, "what in Merlin's name is going on with Ron? He's eating like a normal person and is acting completely different. And now he's going for a walk with Luna!"

She turned to Harry, pointed her finger at him and continued, "and you! You don't seem to be surprised at all by any of this. What is going on?"

Ginny calmly replied, "It's not that complicated. Last night I had a chance to talk with Ron in the common room while you were both gone and he was all alone. He talked about how he thought his fourth year was turning into a pile of hippogriff dung with no Quidditch, kinda falling out with both of his best mates, and his studies not going well especially without you to help him, Hermione. He was terribly embarrassed at how he asked both you and Fleur to the Yule Ball and also embarrassed that he didn't have a date yet, but you did. And lastly he mentioned how the dress robes mum sent him were ghastly."

"Oh," said Hermione. "I didn't know we felt all that."

"Anyway, we talked and he asked me for help. He knew that the twins would be worse than no help and that you two were too busy and wouldn't understand anyway. We always used to help each other out when we were little so he asked for help. I gave him some advice…"

"I know!" interrupted Harry. "He showed me what you told him. He wrote 6 rules on a piece of parchment. He calls them "Ginny's Rules."

Ginny continued after glaring at Harry. "I also told him that I could help him get a date for the Ball. That's why I introduced him to Luna. I also told him I knew some glamour charms that could make his dress robes presentable."

Hermione sat there in silence pondering it all. Had she and Harry let down their best friend?

Ginny stood up and made to leave. She looked back at the two still at the table. "Ok, Harry and Hermione, if you're truly his best friends, don't give him a hard time about any of this and I'd appreciate it if you don't mention anything I've said. I think it's a great thing that Ron wants to be better."

Hermione slowly turned to Harry and asked "Ron is really going to the ball with Loony?"

"Don't call her that in Ron's presence. Last night he told me he wouldn't stand for it and that it was covered by rule four."

Ron and Luna met at the doorway and headed out toward the lake. Both were bundled in their winter coats so neither felt the cold of the Scottish winter.

At first they were quiet and just walked side by side. Finally Ron broke the silence. "Did Ginny tell you why I wanted to meet you today?"

"Yes, she made it clear that you were going to ask me to go with you to the Yule Ball. Is that true?"

"Yes it's true, what do you think about that? being set up on a sort of blind date with your friends brother who can't get a date on his own?"

"Well, I was very disappointed when I heard that Third Years couldn't go to the Ball without a date who was older, because I would love to just see what a Yule Ball would be like. I was then even more disappointed when I learned that Ginny would get to go because she was going with Neville. But then I realized that sometimes things happen in the season they're supposed to, so maybe this wasn't the season for me to go, and I got to the place where I was ok with that. There will be other years and other balls and maybe that will be my turn then."

Ron stopped and frowned. "So you don't want to go to the Ball?"

Luna smiled at looked at Ron. "Oh no, I didn't say that, I just meant that I shouldn't force things to happen when maybe they shouldn't. On the other hand, I shouldn't force things to not happen either when maybe they should."

Ron grabbed the back of his neck with his left hand and gave Luna a weak smile. "So, if I ask you to be my date to the Yule Ball, which of those is it?"

"I'm not really sure yet, let's just see what happens on our walk together."

Ron and Luna walked slowly down toward the lake. Ron tried very hard to adhere to rule 2 and asked a variety of questions and actually listened to the answers. Ron learned that Luna was an only child and lived quite a ways away from anyone else so she was often lonely growing up. He learned that she sometimes made up pretend creatures so that she'd have someone to play with. Luna told Ron that her favorite made-up creature was the Crumple Horned Snorkack and she liked to confuse people by pretending it was real.

Ron smiled as they sat down by the lake. "So you mentioned nargles before. Are they real or made-up too?"

"I think they're real, or at least it seems sometimes. I've never seen one, but I'm pretty sure they're real otherwise who would it be that keeps taking all my things? It has to be nargles."

"What do you mean, Luna? Do you lose a lot of your stuff?"

"Well, it seems that sometimes my things, like my shoes, or my coat or my school books go missing, and then I find them later in random places in the castle. It has to be nargles."

Ron immediately got angry, but kept it from showing. Surely some of her Ravenclaw dorm mates were messing with her stuff and it pissed him off. He didn't even have to remember rule 4 to decide he needed to make that stop.

"I'll ask around and see if anyone else is having the same problem. Maybe we can figure out a way to keep the nargles from messing with your stuff."

"That would be very helpful, Ronald, thank you."

Ron learned that charms was her favorite subject and that she liked Quidditch, but was a terrible flier on a broom. He learned that she hoped to study magical creatures when she finished Hogwarts, and that Ginny was one of her best friends.

"What are your parents like?" Ron asked as they stopped and sat by the lake. "What do they do?"

Luna hung her head and gave a quiet sniff. Ron could see tears forming in the corner of her eyes. Luna responded quietly, "my mum died when I was seven. There was a potion mishap at home and she was killed. It was awful."

Ron instinctively reached over and wrapped his arms around her and hugged her to his chest. "Oh I am so sorry Luna. I'm sorry that your mum died and that I had to go and bring it up and make you sad. That must have been hard to lose your mum, and I'm so sorry, Luna, I'm so sorry."

"It's Ok, Ronald, it's ok. I think of my mum every day, but I'm not always sad. Today is just a sad day, I guess, but it's ok."

Luna looked up and moved to remove herself from Ron's arms. "Thank you for the hug, Ron. My mum always gave the best hugs, and I really needed one now. Thank you."

Luna stood up and took Ron's hand in hers as she walked back the way they had come. "I think it's time we headed back. People will wonder where we are, and I have several essays to write."

"Ok, as we go back, would you mind telling me more about your mum and dad, it's not too hard? I would like to know more about them."

"That would be nice. I like to talk about my mum."

Ron and Luna walked back to the castle still holding hands and Luna told Ron all she could remember about her mum. She also told him how her dad published The Quibbler and how it sometimes made people mad what he wrote.

Luna finished by saying, "One lesson I learned from my mum and my dad is that you cannot control what people think, so it's ok to not be bothered by what they do think about you or anything else. I've learned that it is more important to think and do what I think is right, and not to worry what other people think. Sometimes it makes people think I'm weird, but that's ok, too."

Ron walked her back to the Ravenclaw tower. He let go of her hand and smiled at her. "I think it's wonderful that you can go through life without worrying about what others think. I need to learn how to do that. I don't think you're weird Luna, I think you're wonderful. Thank you for the walk, I had a really good time getting to know you just a bit. Even if you decide to not go to the Ball with me, I still want to be your friend."

"Well, Ronald, we'll never know until you ask."

"Uh, what?"

"You still haven't asked me yet, Ronald, but I do have to tell you I am most inclined to agree."

Ron blushed as he realized he had never really asked Luna to go to the Ball. He stood as tall as he could, took Luna's hand in his once more, cleared his throat and looked her directly in the eyes.

"Miss Luna Lovegood, would you do me the honor of attending the Yule Ball with me as my date?"

"Yes, of course, Ronald, I thought you'd never ask."