I don't own the characters or the wizarding world, that goes to JKR and the various publishing conglomerates

playlist/5q7pAgau40GWxpebSIwq4K?si=8W7Ho83oRFqG95XbmuP1ww

The first of September fell on a Saturday, and as such Ron was working at the shop with Kemp. He had arranged a new schedule of two days a week with Kemp and the remaining days at the shop in Diagon Alley, where Remus and Pandora would teach his lessons while they were slow. Sunday was his day off, and Harry would often join the Weasleys to fly in the paddock. Harry and Ron still didn't have enough control of their magic to cast spells successfully, but Pandora insisted that practising the basics of wand movements and pronunciation were key principles to being successful once they started at Hogwarts. And, though both were discouraged by their spotty results, they continued under her critical eye.

The weeks quickly turned into months, and soon Christmastime was fast approaching. This would be the first Christmas without all of the Weasley children as Bill was still stationed in Egypt, and he wanted to stay there to focus on his work. The tears Mrs Weasley shed did not go unnoticed by her two youngest children.

Ron was balancing his Christmas presents between the magical and muggle choices during breaks from his time with Kemp and in Diagon Alley. He had also continued to spend a substantial amount of time with the Blakemores and had decided that this year he would include them in his Christmas shopping as well.

And then- something unusual happened. He was waiting after knocking on the Blakemore's door when a stranger opened it, looking down and smiling at him. "You must be Ron. I've heard quite a bit about you; come on in."

Ron could hear the stereo going and followed the unknown man into the house. As he did, the man said over his shoulder, "I'm Luke, by the way."

Ron nodded and as he joined the rest of the small group in the sitting room, Ron removed his jacket and put it on the back of his normal seat. When he turned around to face the group he saw that Luke was sitting in front of Colin, much like he had seen Charlie do with Karen. Ron then noticed that Eleanor was there, along with Karen. Ron quickly noticed how empty the room felt.

"Where is everyone?" Ron asked.

A ripple of discomfort went through the room. "Well, I don't think they'll be coming back any time soon," Karen said.

That surprised Ron. "What? Why?"

"I think that'd be my fault," Luke spoke up. "I think I made them a little uncomfortable."

"Tossers," Eleanor scoffed. Ron noted the grateful look Colin sent her way.

"And who are you?" Ron asked.

"Ron, this is my boyfriend, Luke," Colin said proudly, but with just a hint of something else in his voice.

"Ok. But why don't they like him?"

"It's more the relationship that they're uncomfortable with," Luke answered.

"But, why?" Ron seemed genuinely confused.

"Exactly," Karen agreed. "They shouldn't care. No one's changed anything - Colin just isn't hiding who he is anymore."

Ron just shrugged at that and took his seat. "Alright, so what are we listening to? It's..." he seemed to struggle to find the word he was looking for.

"Pop-y?" Luke tried to supply.

"Energetic?" Karen guessed.

"Annoying?" Came Eleanor's slightly bored voice.

"All of them?" Ron asked, causing a good-natured chuckle throughout the room as the tension seemed to drain away.

"Fair enough," Colin said, "You can pick the next one. Did you bring anything good?" He allowed his hand to fall and tangle in Luke's hair, and both of them seemed to relax at the touch.

Ron answered by pulling out a few pieces of vinyl and sliding them onto the table. The rest of the evening passed in a comfortable routine of music, laughter, and the occasional heated discussion.

Although, towards the end of the evening, Karen started asking questions about when Charlie might be getting back from school.

"Two weeks today," Ron said happily.

"Right," Karen said with a firm nod. "Will he be joining you at Kemp's for the break, like normal?"

Ron shrugged. "I think so. I haven't really talked to him about it."

"Good. I miss him," Karen said, a little wistfully.

"Me too."

"Did he tell you about his summer plans?" she asked.

"Not really. I know he's waiting to hear back about that job at the nature reserve," Ron answered.

She just nodded, looking a little sad.

Ron decided that he liked Luke. Colin seemed much more at ease than he had in quite some time. Not so much that Ron had noticed, but after seeing Colin take a deep breath and release a long, happy sigh, it was clear how much tension his older friend had been holding.

A few hours later his father knocked at the door to pick him up to return home for dinner at The Burrow, at which time Ginny complained loudly about being bored.

"You can probably come with me when I go into town if you don't want to go to Diagon Alley, if mum is ok with it," Ron said absently.

"Oh really?" Mr Weasley asked, surprised by the offer.

Ron shrugged. "Some of the older kids stopped coming by the Blakemores' house; I'm sure Beth is bored- she even came down and sat with us a few times."

"Why did they stop coming? Did something happen?" Mrs Weasley asked, concerned.

"Not really. They didn't like that Colin likes another guy."

"What?" Mrs Weasley asked.

"He likes a guy. Like, Charlie-and-Karen like," Ron said with a shrug, "Not like he's any different. What's it matter who he likes?"

Mr and Mrs Weasley shared tight smiles. "Not everyone looks at it like that," the patriarch said.

"Well. That's kind of silly," Ron responded. "It's like caring about blood, like those crazy old people you always complain about, Dad; it matters what they're like, right?"

"Exactly, son. So- Colin has a new boyfriend?"

"Yup, Luke. He seems really nice," Ron answered.

"Why don't you ask if he'll be around for our usual Boxing Day dinner with the Blakemores?"

"Ok, Dad," Ron said, still more focused on eating than on the conversation he was participating in.

The following Tuesday, Ron was working in the shop with Angela; she had taken it upon herself to tutor Ron in some of her favourite artists. Music that, according to her, "that square Kemp would never play" with Ron around.

It was in the midst of this that Colin strolled in and stopped short at the music.

"Not the usual fare," he said with a small smile.

"Z is trying to 'educate me'," Ron said with a grin.

Colin nodded and shot the new manager an appraising look. "Sorry I haven't been around as much this past summer; I'd been spending most of my time with Luke at his place before I told my parents about him."

Ron nodded. "This summer was pretty busy, and Kemp's gone more anyway. Oh, and my parents wanted to know if you and Luke were going to be at the usual Boxing Day dinner- they seemed interested in meeting him."

"Really?"

Ron nodded. "Yup. Why? You seem surprised."

"Your family is kind of old-fashioned. Just a little surprised they're so open to…" Colin trailed off, seeming to be unsure of how to finish that sentence.

"My dad always just says 'love is love'," Ron said with a shrug.

That caused Colin to smile warmly in response, as did Z, who was eavesdropping behind the counter.

"I'll talk to Luke, and my parents, although I don't see why not. Especially since Bill won't be around this Christmas, right?"

"Right," Ron agreed sadly.

"Alright, well I'm going to head out; I'll see you in a few hours after work?"

Ron nodded, going back behind the counter and continuing his conversation with Z about albums that she considered 'must-listens'.

The winter break arrived without incident; the elder Weasley children came back from Hogwarts, as was their custom. True to their word, Mr and Mrs Weasley didn't force any of them to join them at Aunt Muriel's, and none of them did. Instead, they were visited by Harry, Sirius and Remus. There was an attempt at a Quidditch game, but Charlie mysteriously disappeared as soon as the brooms were obtained, and instead an aerial snowball fight ensued - Percy was not amused.

Boxing Day found the Weasleys all making their way into town to spend the afternoon and evening with the Blakemores. Beth and Ginny had become closer, and immediately headed to Beth's room. Fred, George, and Ron headed for the shed, as was their custom. When they arrived they found Charlie, who had spent the morning there on a sofa with Karen as well as Colin and Luke who were sharing an oversized reclining chair. The newcomers found seats on the floor and other sofa and fell into idle chatting as the music played.

"I like this album," Ron commented. "These two are solid."

Colin, Luke, and Karen all snorted in laughter. At the odd reaction Karen commented, "This is Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald - two of the best. It's one of the few Christmas albums worth listening to."

"Well- " Luke started with a sly smile, before immediately being cut off by Karen.

"No."

"But-"

"Do we have to?"

Luke just gave her a pout to which Karen responded with an eye roll.

Karen leaned over to swap out the record. "Just for this song," she said with a faux-stern look.

As the music came on the twins were the first to react. "Well, this is certainly-" Fred started.

"-different," George finished. "But I like it."

The group fell back into idle chatter before being summoned into the house for dinner with the rest of their families. The day passed in comfortable familiarity with a lot of catching up and plenty of laughter. After dinner, the kids clambered into the sitting room to argue over what film to watch. This year, at Luke's insistence, they chose an old James Bond film, "Goldfinger", which seemed enjoyable enough, while the parents sat in the dining room and continued to chat.

The rest of the Christmas holidays flew by and suddenly Ron and Ginny were alone again. Ginny had started joining Ron more often at the shop with Kemp and, subsequently, the Blakemores' too; she wasn't as interested in the shop, but she did enjoy talking with Z, and both she and Beth were becoming good friends.

Both Ron and Harry had begun to gain more control over their magic and had even added a third pupil to their 'class'. It had started on a random Wednesday, when Ron was absent-mindedly splitting up a new assortment of records.

He heard Harry shout, "Oi! Neville!" before the door opened.

Ron looked up to see a slightly chubby and shy-looking boy being followed in by an imposing woman with a stuffed vulture perched on top of her hat. Ron had to work hard to stifle the snort that so badly wanted to burst forth.

"Ron, come meet Neville!" Harry called back as he began to talk to the newcomer.

"'Lo," Ron said as he approached, "I'm Ron Weasley."

"One of Arthur Weasley's?" The woman cut in.

Ron nodded, "That's my dad."

The woman gave a curt nod in response before turning to the boy. "Neville, I have to take care of some Gringott's business, do you think you can mind your manners for a bit?"

"Yes, Gran."

She called to the back of the shop, "Thank you Pandora!" receiving only a vague shout in return the woman swept out.

Apparently Neville had come in a few times on past Saturdays with the woman, who had turned out to be his grandmother. Ron learned that Neville's parents were in St Mungo's, and had been as long as he could remember, but he didn't seem interested in sharing very much about them. Ron liked Neville; he was much quieter than Harry, and didn't seem as sure of himself, but was very interested in just about everything.

Neville began coming to visit the shop fairly regularly, and after about a week of him visiting every other day, Pandora offered to add him to her tutoring services. His grandmother quickly agreed - Ron was actually a little surprised by how fast she said yes, but Neville shared that apparently his family had thought he was a squib until just this past summer, when he had been dropped out of a window and bounced.

The following Monday, Neville joined them in their makeshift classroom. It turned out he seemed to have very poor control of his magic, failing to get more than a few feeble sparks from his wand. Pandora called for Remus, who took Neville away for a bit, before returning with, apparently, a new wand from Ollivanders. This time, when he returned and swept his wand through the air, a shower of blue and green sparks burst forth. Ron had left before Neville and Harry that day - Harry reported a massive row between Mrs Longbottom and Pandora.

The winter quickly faded into spring and soon the Easter break was approaching. Most of the elder Weasley children were staying at Hogwarts, but Charlie had made the decision to come back home to spend as much time as he could with Karen.

On his first evening back, he shared some news with his family. "I accepted a position with the dragon reserve in Romania." He smiled broadly as he said it, but there was something else in his eyes.

Mrs Weasley put on a brave face, trying not to dampen the celebratory mood, and Mr Weasley grabbed his son and shook him. "That's marvellous, Charlie!" he shouted. Although when he pulled back he noticed the shadow in Charlie's eyes and asked, "Isn't it?"

"I think so," Charlie said and hesitated before continuing, "I love dragons, and I'm excited to get the chance to work with them, but with the shop here and Karen, I'm just not sure. She and I have talked and we're going to take a break after these holidays. I'm going to go to Romania for at least a year, and we're both free to do what we'd like during that time."

"That's a good idea, son. Give yourselves some space and see if your passions have changed. There's always a chance you'll love it and want to stay." Mr Weasley smiled, but Ron noticed his mother wince at that comment.

"Anyway, it's a good thing I came back. Sirius asked me and Ron to be ready for a meeting tomorrow - not really sure what he's on about, but his letter made it seem like he was very excited."

"A meeting?" Ron asked.

Charlie nodded, "Tomorrow - an hour before Magic of Muggles opens he wants you and me to visit Grimmauld Place - Pandora will be there too."

Ron puzzled over that for the rest of the night, coming up with vague and strange ideas for what Sirius wanted them for. He considered the possibility that the shop would need to close for some reason, but there hadn't been any vandalism since Pandora had increased the wards to some new design she came up with. Ron's thoughts trailed off as he eventually fell asleep.

The next morning Charlie and Ron slipped through the floo into the kitchen at Grimmauld and found Pandora already waiting for them.

"Ah, hello boys," she said with a smile.

"Where are Sirius and Remus?" Charlie asked.

"Good question - they live upstairs and somehow all of us beat them to the meeting that they called," Pandora said with an eye roll. "Kreacher?"

With the sound of a small pop, the diminutive elf appeared. "Yes, Miss Pandora?"

"Can you let the scruffy Black know that we're here?"

Kreacher gave her a devious smile before popping away and a moment later the distant yell of "OI!" could be heard echoing through the house followed by bellows of laughter from two different voices. Shortly, what sounded like a stampede of hippogriffs could be heard coming down the stairs.

"It's on!" Sirius called as he pushed the door, pointing at Pandora as Harry and Remus followed him in still snorting with laughter.

"I'm siccing a house-elf on you one of these days!" Sirius yelled, eliciting a guffaw from Pandora.

"Rather than getting all huffy with me, how about when you call a meeting in your own house you show up on time?" Pandora shot back with an arched eyebrow.

Sirius was winding up when Remus just pointed to the clock on the wall, deflating his friend.

"Fine," Sirius growled.

"Right." Remus clapped. "Now that's out of the way let's get to the meeting. As I'm sure you all have noticed, the shop is doing really well. Especially thanks to your friend Kemp, and to Pandora's protective wards." He gestured at the Weasleys and Pandora in turn.

"Ron and Pandora may have also noticed my conspicuous absence recently," Remus continued. "At Sirius's behest I was scouting out locations for a possible expansion and I found two different options: we thought it best to have a conversation to decide which route we wanted to go."

Ron was still processing that news when he heard his brother give a grunt of assent before pulling out a chair and sitting at the table. The move was copied by the rest of the group except for Remus, who moved to stand at the head of the table.

"So, the first location that I thought of was Hogsmeade - there's a small shop that the owner is open to selling. I believe the slow times of the year would be made up for by Hogsmeade weekends, and by those who want to avoid the crowds in Diagon Alley. The second option, and this is a bit more aggressive, is opening a shop in the French equivalent of Hogsmeade, a small town near Beauxbatons called Vallée Cachée. This would obviously be a whole different market for us to consider; it's much riskier, but offers great opportunities," Remus concluded. "So, thoughts?"

The table remained quiet for a beat before Pandora spoke up, "Sirius, what are you leaning towards?"

He smirked in response and evaded the question. "As the financial backer I definitely have a preference, but I'd rather wait to share it."

"Hogsmeade makes the most sense and is probably the safer bet, but we can already fulfil orders there with owl post from the Diagon Alley shop," Charlie said. "I'd lean towards opening in France."

"France also means hiring full-time staff outside of us and finding a new distributor. Some English-language products would be fine, but I doubt Kemp could handle finding that many French records," Pandora commented.

The conversation continued for a few minutes between Remus, Pandora, and Charlie before Ron spoke up, "Why not both?"

The conversation stopped.

"Both?!" Charlie practically yelled.

"I'm sure it's possible, but it's a bit much, don't you think?" Pandora said to Remus.

"I think we can do it. You can take what I've earned so far if you have to. I think we should spread as far as we can," Ron said defiantly.

Sirius beamed at the boy. "You're willing to bet everything you've earned in the past year on this?"

Ron nodded.

Charlie chuckled. "And you're worried you won't be sorted into Gryffindor! I'm in."

At this Remus's eyes were as big as saucers. "You boys can't be serious."

"Of course not, that's me!" Sirius cackled at the groans from around the table. "What do you think, Pandora?"

She had a calculating look on her face. "The Quibbler is doing well, I think Xeno would be ok with reinvesting a decent portion of my earnings for this, but I'd need to speak with him and Luna to confirm. After all, this is a substantial commitment."

"Moony?" Sirius asked.

"It's a bit risky, don't you think?"

"I've done riskier," Sirius grinned.

Remus rolled his eyes before nodding. "True. I'm open to it."

"Perfect. I've started negotiating already - I'll get the paperwork," Sirius said, standing and turning for the door.

Shouts of "You prat!" and "What the hell Padfoot?!" along with Ron and Harry's laughter followed him.

When the door swung open again a flash of red light went straight through it. "Ow! Bloody hell!" Sirius shouted, rubbing his arm where the stinging jinx hit him.

"Language!" Remus shouted.

"That's what you get for leading us on. You were always planning on both," Pandora said.

"I wanted both, but I wanted to make sure you were all in with me," Sirius said. "Notice I didn't even make the suggestion - that was Ron! However, now that I'm not being assaulted, we can take a look at the numbers." As he said this he took out a few sheets of parchment and laid them out on the table.

"We'll be able to make the move for both locations - if I'm honest, we could do it without any of you putting your own earnings back in the pot, but that being said, if you'd like to up your partnership a bit on this, I certainly wouldn't turn it down. We can talk exact numbers later, after you've had a chance to talk with your families," Sirius said.

"Alright, does anyone have any questions?" Remus asked.

They all shook their heads, and as simple as that, the meeting ended.

"Let's get some breakfast. Kreacher? Could you handle making us all breakfast?" Sirius said.

The elf nodded and food instantly began flying around the kitchen.

"Come on Neville!" Harry yelled as he bolted out the door of the Burrow. "Ron! Where are you?"

Ron turned his head at the call. "Oi! Harry!" He waved from the broom shed.

Once Harry got within a reasonable distance he said at a normal volume, "Neville told me he's never been on a broom, I thought we could give him some practice."

Ron looked over Harry's shoulder and saw their friend meekly following him out.

"You sure about this?" Ron asked sceptically.

"Of course, he'll love it!" Harry said excitedly.

"Are you sure about this?" Neville called as he approached.

"Yup," Harry said, walking into the shed, exiting a moment later with three brooms.

"Neville, if you don't want to do this, it's not a big deal," Ron said. "But it might be easier here than during flying class - at least you probably won't fly into anyone else."

Neville looked pale, but nodded as he approached the other two.

"We're going to do this properly this time," Ron said. "Since you're nervous Neville, this might be easier than just hopping on and flying."

Harry looked a little put out by this.

"Trust me," Ron said, looking at his friend. "It's better to take it slower if you're not sure. Harry here basically would've taken a broom straight off a cliff his first time, but it doesn't seem like you're so sure, Neville. So come over here and stand with the broom on your right side, just like that. Right, now hold your hand over it like this and say 'Up!'" He gave Neville an encouraging nod and then said "UP!" holding his hand over the broom, which promptly leapt into his hand.

Harry followed suit and again, the broom flew to his open hand. Neville shouted, somewhat shakily, and the broom rolled over.

"That's ok Neville," Harry said encouragingly. "Just try again with a bit more confidence."

Neville looked wary but nodded, saying with a slightly more steady voice, "Up."

This time the broom reacted appropriately and leapt into the boy's hand.

"Great, Neville!" Ron and Harry said together.

"Alright, Harry, you go on Neville's other side, just in case something happens. That way we can help him out," Ron said.

"Alright Neville, you're going to kick off the ground," Ron said as Harry did just that. "The harder you kick the higher you'll go."

Neville nodded and barely kicked off the ground, hovering a few feet in the air. Ron watched from down below and tried to match his height, ending up with his feet close to Neville's ear.

"Right, so now you just have to pull up on the handle to go up, and sort of push it down to go down," Ron said.

Harry was circling the other two, offering encouragement to his friend as Neville got the basics down.

After a few basic manoeuvres Neville began drifting back down. Once his feet were solidly on the ground he spoke, "Thanks guys, but I think I'd rather just keep my feet on the ground. I fall over often enough without adding extra height into it."

"It's ok, Neville. But do you mind if Ron and I get some flying in?" Harry asked.

"Go for it, I'll watch."