Chapter Four – Smithson-Burke Syndrome

The next morning Ron had a bit of a lie in given that it was Sunday, but as soon as he got up he went looking for his favorite sister. He found her in the Great Hall finishing breakfast. He rushed over and sat down beside her, giving her a big hug.

"Huh, Ron, what are you doing?!" squealed Ginny in surprise. "Are you ok?"

Harry and Hermione were just down the table and they also were surprised at this somewhat out of character behavior of their best mate.

"I just wanted to say you look really great this morning and to say thanks, little sis, thank you, you're the best sister in the world and I haven't felt this good in a long time."

Hermione couldn't resist butting in, "And what may I ask is the source of your good mood?"

Harry also nodded along. He too was curious.

Ron still had his arms around Ginny as he looked at Hermione and Harry with a big grin.

"Good Morning! You both look well this morning. Isn't it a great morning? Anyway, I feel so good because she said yes and Gin Gin is going to help make my dress robes respectable so I won't embarrass myself at the Yule Ball!"

Hermione's eyebrows rose as she asked more quietly, "and who was it that said yes?"

Ron was a bit perplexed at Hermione's interest and her somewhat muted reaction.

"Luna Lovegood is going to the Yule Ball with me as my date. After Ginny introduced us yesterday we had a nice long walk where we got to know each other better and I asked her and she said yes. It Only took me three tries to get it right, but it feels really good to have a date to the Ball. Now I can see who it is that you're going with Hermione since you won't tell me."

Ron looked over at Harry and with a more serious expression on his face asked him, "So, Harry, do you have a date yet? Don't all the champions need to have a date?"

Harry's cheeks reddened as he looked down and replied softly, "I'm working on it, I've got someone in mind, I just need to find her and ask."

"Good luck, Mate." Ron now hesitated and then while looking directly at Hermione and continued, "it feels really good to have someone that is actually interested in going with me. It is a bit of a boost after how crappy this year has been. I'm hoping this is the beginning of me turning things around."

Hermione and Harry both at each other a bit guiltily.

Hermione then consciously changed her expression to a smile and looked back at Ron. "Hey Ron, that's great. I hope you and Loony have a good time."

Ron instantly turned beet red and rose to his feet in anger and leaned over to Hermione with his index finger pointed right at her.

Quietly but forcefully he said, "That's the last time you call her that, Hermione. The very last time. Do you understand? The last time. I won't stand for it. Do you understand?"

He then looked around at everyone at the table including Harry and stated clearly and unequivocally so that all of Gryffindor could hear him, "her name is Luna. Luna, not anything else and if I hear anyone call her anything derogatory you'll have to face me and my wand."

Turning his head again so that he could see everyone at the Gryffindor table he continued, "Do I make myself clear?"

No one said anything so Ron turned to leave and glanced back down with a glare at Hermione. "I would have thought better of you, Hermione."

Sheepishly Hermione looked down and replied softly, "I'm sorry Ron. It won't happen again."

Ron nodded at her and then said, "I'm off to find Luna, perhaps she'll let me study with her and then we can maybe go on another walk. It is really interesting some of the things she has to say."

With a last "Thanks again, Gin," Ron walked off toward the Ravenclaw table hoping to find Luna.

Later that afternoon Ron and Luna were sitting next to each other in the Great Hall. They had gone on a walk after lunch and both had enjoyed learning more about each other before agreeing to study together. Luna was working on an essay for charms and Ron was reading his transfiguration textbook. After reading for about 10 minutes Ron slammed the book closed and dropped it on the table with a loud 'whump.' He rubbed his eyes with his hands and sighed loudly.

"Is everything ok, Ronald?" asked Luna. "You seem stressed?"

"I don't know what it is, I must be stupid or something, but after reading for just a little bit, it seems like the words and letters in the book get all jumbled and they don't make sense. I try reading the same thing again and again but it gets all scrambled up in my brain. No wonder I'm having such a hard time this year there's so much more reading than before."

"Well for one thing I know that you're not stupid. You tell me you're good at chess and can recite Quidditch statistics from ten years in the past, you're brave and loyal and funny, but I know you're not stupid."

"I don't know, I should be able to read better than this by now and it seems to be getting worse."

Luna looked thoughtful for a moment and looked at Ron with the most serious face he'd ever seen on her. "Did your parents ever have you tested for Smithson-Burke syndrome Ron? I think the muggles call it dyslexia, but it can cause reading issues in kids. My dad has it, but it is fixable."

Ron looked up skeptical. "Smithson- what? dyslexia? Never heard of it. How do you know if you have it and how do you fix it?"

"They don't really know why it happens, but these two witches named Katherine Smithson and Louise Burke figured it out. They invented a simple spell to counter the problem. You use it when you start to read something. Simply say scripturam non contra with a simple wand movement. If reading then gets easier, then you've got it, but if it doesn't then it's something else. Here, let's try it on your book."

Ron opened his textbook and looked up a Luna. "What's the spell again?"

"Scripturam non contra."

Ron pulled out his wand, said the incantation with the same wand motion as Luna and then looked down at the book.

"Merlin's beard, Luna, everything looks normal and I can actually read every word!"

"You should read a bit more and see if it really is fixed. I'll check back with you in a few minutes."

Ron looked back down and actually began to read, and it was all making sense. He kept waiting for everything to get muddled up like normal, but it never did. He could actually read and understand what he was reading. It was marvelous!

After a few minutes, Luna looked up at Ron and found he was still reading with a huge grin on his face. Luna smiled to herself and then poked Ron. "Judging by the grin on your face the spell seems to have worked."

Ron looked up at Luna, scooted his chair over wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her blonde hair as tears ran down his cheek. "Luna, this is the greatest thing that has happened to me ever. I'm just so relieved. All these years I've wondered if I'm just stupid. I tried to talk to Harry and Hermione about it, but they didn't understand. Hermione just thought I was lazy and cared only for Quidditch while Harry just thought I was unorganized. I'm not stupid, I can read now and now I know that I'm not stupid and I have you to thank and I feel so relieved."

"Oh, Ronald you're welcome. I'm just glad to be able to help my friend. You are my friend, right Ron? Not just a date to the Ball?"

Ron wiped his eyes and hugged Luna even tighter. "Oh Luna, I'm so glad you're my friend, so glad. I don't know how to really thank you. This is so amazing! I can't wait to tell Harry and Hermione!"

Luna shrugged her shoulders and said quietly, "funny that Hermione never realized that you had this problem. Just remember the spell and you'll be fine from now on."

Ron let go of Luna and scooted his chair back just a bit, still keeping close to Luna. "Uh, Luna, since you've been such a big help, can I ask for just a little bit more?"

"Sure Ronald, what can I do?"

"Can you help me get more organized? Now that I can actually read well, I want to do so much better in my classes."

Oh, Ron, it's easy. Let me tell you how I do things."

Half an hour later Ron had a grasp on how he was going to really improve his academics. Luna had shown him her simple way of staying on top of things and getting things done. He knew it would take more discipline than he'd had in the past, but with the reading problem sorted, he was motivated for the first time ever.

After saying good bye to Luna with yet another hug and more 'thank yous' Ron walked back to the Gryffindor tower. He decided that he didn't need to share Luna's discovery of his Smithson-Burke syndrome with Harry and Hermione. He also kept secret the new way of being organized that he learned from Luna. He just wanted to surprise them both with his improvement in his class work.

He wanted to do something for Luna to acknowledge all that she had done for him. And it had taken her only two days! to get him started on getting his life sorted for the first time all year. She really was remarkable and he was grateful again to Ginny for getting him and Lu together. He wondered if she'd mind him calling her that. Lu just seemed like the perfect nickname for her.

In the common room he found his brothers off in a corner looking like they were in the middle of some nefarious plan when it struck him. He remembered hearing from Luna that the nargles were always taking her stuff, but Ron knew it was her fellow Ravenclaws, and he just realized what he needed to do to get that to stop, but he would need the help of the twins.

He walked over and greeted them with "Hey genius brothers of mine looks like you're working on something fun."

Both Fred and George looked up from the parchment in front of them and discretely rolled it up before Ron could read what it was. "So we may be, little brother, who knows? But what brings you over to our corner of the world? We hear you've been hanging around a certain blonde Ravenclaw."

Ron blushed just a bit and said, "yeah, Ginny introduced me to Luna and she's pretty cool. She's going to be my date to the Yule Ball. Anyway, that's sort of what I need to talk to you about."

"Ah, matters of the heart, Gred, our little Ronniekins has come to us for advice on how to woo his new friend."

"We're honored, are we not Forge? We must help little Ronnie keep up the Weasley romantic reputation. What do you want to know little bro?"

Ron blushed even more, "ok, it's not like that. What's going on is that her Ravenclaw roommates keep taking her stuff and hiding it around the castle. Sometimes she doesn't even have a pair of shoes to wear and it's pissing me off."

"Ok, Ronniekins, what can we do?"

"Can I get you to pull a prank on the Ravenclaw girls for me? I'll even pay you to do it."

"Sounds intriguing, does it not, Forge? But Ronnie, you don't have two galleons to your name. How could you pay us?"

"If you agree and pull this off, I'll do your chores over the Christmas holidays."

"Ooo, that is a tempting offer little bro. What do you think Gred, are we in?"

"Oh, we are definitely in. It's a matter of Weasley pride that we protect the ones we love. What's your plan Ron?"

"Uh, uh, umm, I don't know about love yet, but we'll see. We've just known each other two days… anyway, I'm going to go to Cho Chang and tell her to get the Ravenclaws to leave her stuff alone or else the wrath of the Weasleys will come down on her and her house. That's where you'll come in. Ok?"

"It sounds like our little paramour here has a good plan. Now we need to come up with a prank worthy of Ronnie's passion, which I think I know what I want to do."

"Ok, just don't tell me. I'll let you geniuses figure it out and I'll let you know if it's needed. Thanks Fred and George. You guys are the best."

That night when everyone was at dinner Ron wandered over to the Ravenclaw table and tapped Luna on the shoulder.

"Thanks again, Luna. I still can't believe what you did for me. Would you be interested in studying together again tomorrow after class? We could meet here again if that's ok?"

"That would be wonderful, Ronald. I hope you have a good day in class tomorrow especially now that things are better. You do remember the spell, right?"

"Oh yeah, I'm all sorted on that. See you tomorrow."

Then to Luna's surprise, as well as the surprise of his two best mates that were watching Ron with curiosity from the Gryffindor table, Ron walked down the Ravenclaw table until he reached Cho Chang. He cleared his throat and waited until she looked up at him.

"Weasley?" she said. "What do you want?"

"Could I speak to you for a moment, please, privately?"

"Uh, I already have a date to the Ball, you know, so don't bother asking."

"Trust me it's not that, but would you mind? It concerns Ravenclaw house."

Cho frowned and looked around at her friends. "If it concerns Ravenclaw house, then you can tell me here."

"Ok, I guess I can," replied Ron. Ron crouched down to be closer to Cho's face as he looked at all the Ravenclaw girls sitting around her. "Here's the thing. Luna Lovegood is my friend now, and she tells me that her things always seem to go missing and show up all around the castle. She tells me it's the nargles, but I know it's you lot messing with her. It needs to stop and stop now, understand? If I hear anymore about her stuff missing, the entire Weasley clan, especially my prank loving twin brothers are standing by to bring about retribution. Got it? It stops now."

Ron stood up with a fierce look and waited for any reply. Cho gave him a completely fake smile and said, "I don't know what you're talking about. Loony just loses her stuff on her own."

Ron pulled out his wand and gestured to all the girls now listening in. "Ok, that's another thing. No one calls her that anymore, or they meet up with me and my wand, Ok? And just so you know, Ginny has taught me her Bat-Bogey Hex. So, let's all just be nice and nothing untoward will happen. Thank you Cho and have a good night ladies."

Ron walked back and sat next to Hermione. She looked at him funny and asked, "what was that all about?"

"I'm just following rule 4, trying to stand up for my friend. I can't tell you any more, so don't ask."

Harry looked over and said, "you really like Luna, don't you, Ron?"

"She's a friend and I find her fascinating. The more I get to know her, the more I want to know. She is very easy to be with and I can't believe how comfortable it is just walking and talking with her. She's just a friend but who knows, maybe she'll be more than that after the Ball, after all it will be our first date."

Hearing this, Hermione looked down and scowled at her plate. Even though she wasn't going with Ron to the Ball, she didn't like the way that sounded. Even though she'd been going to the library without him, she didn't want Ron spending more time with someone else, especially another girl.

The next day was Monday and classes were all day so Ron didn't get a chance to see Luna until after dinner when they had agreed to study together again in the Great Hall. As she walked up Ron noticed that she wasn't wearing shoes.

Ron stood from his seat and smiled at his new friend. "Hey Luna, you look really good. How were your classes today?" Ron then scowled as he noticed she wasn't wearing shoes. "Hey, where are your shoes?"

Luna smiled as well as she came up to Ron. "I had a good day in class, charms was especially interesting, Professor Flitwick is so funny. It seems though that the nargles took my shoes again while I was taking a shower. Perhaps you can help me find them later?"

Ron sighed and said, "oh course, no worries, I'd be glad to help. Give me a minute, I'll be right back, I just need to talk to my brothers for a bit."

Ron ran up to the Gryffindor common room and found the twins. "Hey are you guys ready to implement your Ravenclaw plan? They stole Luna's shoes."

"Oh yes, little bro, we've got a plan and we're ready to go. This will be an epic prank that will put our name in the record books. Just tell your friend to not to enter the Ravenclaw bathrooms tomorrow morning. Tell her Ginny will get her into her dorm first thing in the morning to take care of things, but not to use Ravenclaw bathrooms until after dinner tomorrow."

"Thanks Fred, thanks George."

Ron returned to the Great Hall and fortunately found Chang still sitting at the Ravenclaw table. Ron leaned over and whispered in her ear, "well, I tried to warn you, but alas Luna's shoes are missing again. Tomorrow I want all of her things returned to her or this will just be the beginning."

Cho looked at Ron with a smirk. "Yeah? I don't know what you're talking about Weasley, so go back to your girlfriend and leave us alone."

"Ok," Ron smiled and shrugged his shoulders as he walked away. "Have it your way. Just make sure all her stuff is returned. All of it."

Ron walked over to the Gryffindor table and found Luna working hard on yet another essay. He sat down next to her and explained the necessary precautions for tomorrow. When she pressed him on why this was all necessary, Ron just smiled and said:

"My brothers and I are getting rid of the nargles in Ravenclaw tower tomorrow so your things won't go missing anymore. It just might be a bit messy, so I want to make sure you stay away."