"To see what is in front of one's nose requires a constant struggle." ~George Orwell.

The next day, Harry and Hermione were quiet but cordial to each other. During breakfast Harry and Ron talked mostly about Quidditch, while Hermione read a book.

Ginny sat down next to Ron, buttering her toast. "Hello."

" 'Lo," Ron said through a mouthful of porridge. "Ready for Quidditch practice today?"

"When am I ever not ready for Quidditch practice?" Ginny retorted. She looked over at Hermione. "All right, Hermione?"

"Hmm?" Hermione murmured, without looking up from her book.

"Hermione, are you ever going to pull your nose out of that book?" Ron asked, joking.

"No," Hermione said shortly. She turned a page and continued to keep reading.

Ron's eyebrows went up and he shot a quick look at Harry.

Harry looked at Hermione for a moment, and then turned to Ron and whispered in his ear, "Isn't she supposed to be ticked off at me?"

Ron shrugged, and at that moment spotted Luna coming over to the Gryffindor table. As she approached, Ron smiled at her. "Hello, Luna."

"Hello, Ron," she said in her usual dreamy voice. "Harry, Ginny, Hermione."

"Hi, Luna," Ginny said quietly, glancing quickly over at Hermione.

"Hey, Luna," Harry said with a grin. "How's everything going?"

"All right," Luna said. "Er, Ron? Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure," Ron said, and stood up.

For a second, he thought he saw Hermione's eyes peering up at him over the book. Ginny seemed to be examining her plate intently. Harry grinned at him and gave him a thumbs-up.

They walked off a little ways and Luna said quietly, "I wanted to know if you wanted to take a walk down to the lake after classes on Monday. Ginny mentioned you've got Quidditch practice today, so—"

"Yeah," Ron said, smiling down at her. "I'd like that."

"Oh. Good. Good. So—we're going then," Luna smiled back at him.

"All right, but next time I'm going to have to get around to asking you out," Ron added. Since when had he been so confident around girls?

But that was the nice thing about Luna. She didn't make him nervous.

A corner of Luna's mouth curled up. "You do that, then."

"Ron!" Harry called from the table. "We've got to get to practice."

Ron nodded at him, then turned to Luna. "I've got to go."

She nodded. "See you tomorrow, then…at six o' clock?"

"Okay," Ron said, grinning. "See you later."

"Bye."

Ron rejoined Harry, Hermione and Ginny, grinning broadly. "Got a date again for tomorrow," he told them.

Harry thumped him on the back. "Not bad," he approved.

"That's, that's great, Ron," Ginny enthused, glancing over at Hermione again.

Slowly Hermione lifted her eyes to meet Ron's. "We'd all better get to the pitch before you're late."

"Yeah," Harry said with a sigh. "My co-captain'll kill me if I'm late, says it sets a bad example."

"Hey, why aren't you as fanatical as Katie is?" Ron asked.

Harry grinned. "Katie's so much of a slave driver that she makes up for me."

~*~

"So," Seamus whispered over Katie, the other co-captain, "how the date go? I was going to ask you last night, but you were already asleep."

Ron smiled. "It was good."

"Did you take my advice?"

Ron smirked. "Actually, we split the bill. Her idea, not mine."

Seamus turned to him, his eyes wide. "She offered to split the bill?"

"Yeah."

"Bugger," Seamus muttered. "Why can't Lavender be like that? So, what did you do?"

"Well, first we went to the Hog's Head—"

"What?"

"Her idea," Ron clarified. "Talked, drank some butterbeer—oh, and tell Dean he's wrong, because Luna didn't mind when I spit my butterbeer out all over the table."

"Excuse me?" Seamus said, round-eyed.

"Luna had just told me how she had once suggested to Bulstrode that she should shave her mustache. When I apologized for the butterbeer, she said not to worry about it, that she did the same thing to her ex-nanny."

"She said what to Bulstrode?"

"Luna told Bulstrode that she should consider shaving her mustache," Ron repeated.

Seamus shook his head. "Where do I find a girl like that?" he muttered. "Hey, Ron, if things don't work out between you two, would you mind if I had a go?"

"Yes, actually, I would mind," Ron told him.

"What I mind," Katie said, clearly exasperated, "is you two chattering on while the rest of us are trying to learn these new plays! Now, if you two have finished discussing Weasley's love life, perhaps we could get back to Quidditch."

Ron and Seamus both flushed a brilliant shade of red while the rest of the team grinned at them. Well, except for Ginny, who was giving Ron an odd look.

~*~

Ron and Ginny finished packing up the balls. "That's the last of them," Ron said, panting and sweaty from wrestling the Bludgers. "We should get to the locker rooms."

Ginny nodded. "So, you really had a good time with Luna, huh?" Ginny asked as they began heading towards the locker rooms.

Ron nodded. "Yeah."

"Are you, um, are you two dating now?" For some reason, Ginny seemed to be having trouble looking him in the eye.

"Not quite sure, really," Ron said with a laugh. "Luna said we didn't have to label it, that we could just hang out."

Ginny nodded again. "Sounds like a plan." She paused and then asked quietly, "Have you, um, have you kissed her?"

Ron stopped to stare at Ginny in surprise. "Why all the curiosity about my love life all of a sudden?"

"Oh, like you weren't butting in when it came to me and Michael," Ginny retorted. She looked rather embarrassed, however, as she added, "She's one of my best friends, besides Neville, and you're my brother, so—"

"Is it weird for you?" Ron asked. He wouldn't mind if Ginny started to date Harry—in fact he rather approved of the idea—but that did not mean that Ginny would have the same outlook on a similar situation.

"It's just surprising," Ginny said. "I mean…I never figured Luna to be the type of girl you'd fancy."

"And just who is 'my type'?" Ron asked.

"Girls like—like Fleur Delacour—"

"She was part-Veela!" Ron objected. Fred and George still occasionally teased him about that.

"or—or Padma Patil—"

"We had a horrible time at the Yule Ball!"

"Or—" Ginny shut her mouth quickly, as if she was about to blurt out something she shouldn't.

"Or who?" Ron asked.

"Nothing," Ginny said lightly, then gave him a grin. "Or maybe Eloise Midgen…"

Ron looked at his sister in exasperation. "Eloise Midgen? Please."

"She's a very nice girl," Ginny objected. "And besides, she can't help it about her nose."

Ron snorted. "You sound just like Hermione, honestly."

For some reason, this caused Ginny to fall silent. After a long moment, Ginny asked in a quiet tone, "D'you think she's pretty?"

"Who? Eloise?"

"No. Luna. Do you think she's attractive? Physically?"

Ron thought about it. Strange that he had never considered it before. It was true that Luna's eyes stuck out a bit, but they were a rather nice shade of gray. Misty. Her nose was right in the middle of her forehead, where it belonged and her hair, while not a shining blonde like Fleur's, or dark and straight like Padma's, or brown and wildly curling like—moving on—it did look rather nice when it was being blown about by the wind. Her face was alright, her complexion clear, and her voice—Ron liked her voice. It was calm, soothing.

"Yeah, I guess," he said finally. "She's—she's nice. I like her."

Ginny nodded. "Good. I'm glad." She stopped in front of the door to the girls' locker room. "Sorry, Ron, but you can't come in."

"Damn," Ron said in mock-regret. "See you later."