Tradition

The steam from the shower had cloaked the room in a thick mist. The showers at the Burrow always ran out of hot water long before this ever happened but it seemed wonderful to Ron. Spending the last three days training with his Order had left him battered and bruised but still it was nice to be doing something. He had returned the first two nights to Hogwarts and then from there to the Burrow. That way he wouldn't have to lie to his mother those mornings when he said he was going to school for some extra training. This was the first night he was going to spend in the Orders chapter house and he was looking forward to it. The room he had been assigned wasn't very large and most of it was taken up by the bed but it had a nice fire place and the bed was comfortable.

Lord Talon, the Head of the Order, had told Ron he was going on a non-combat mission in the morning, and then he was going to meet Harry in Diagon Ally after lunch so he could do some shopping and just hang out with his best mate. As the hot water slowly washed the tenderness from his muscle he thought back on the last three days and all he had learned.

He had finally chosen a nickname for his partner. He hadn't thought it was very good but he had to choose something and she had seemed pleased with it. He had first called her by her new nickname in a training session where she had successfully shielded both of them from a couple of spells and he had christened her Val, short for Valkyrie. Ron had remembered Hermione explaining something about Muggle Norse mythology. According to those tales the Valkyrie were the shield maidens of the god Odin. All pairs in the Order were divided into two parts. The sword part was the witch or wizard that was better at offensive spells and the shield part was the one who was better at defensive spells. Both were expected to train both aspects but each put a special effort into train their specialty. Ron was made the sword of his pair and he wasn't surprised to find that out, he had always been better at damaging spells than shielding ones. Since Val was the shield of their pairing he thought calling her after shield maidens was an ok idea.

He had also been surprised to find out that most of the pairings were romantically involved. This had not been a pleasant thing for him and he was trying to figure out a way to talk to Val about it when Val sat him down and told him she was engaged. She told him in a very thoughtful way as if she expected him to be hurt somehow and she was relieved when he said he was really fine with it and preferred it that way. Most surprising was the fact that all the members of the Order drew a stipend from the Orders coffers. He had not expected this and when he asked about it he was told the Richard the Lion Hearted had set the tradition up when the Order had been founded. When he and Val had gone to draw their stipend for the first time it was just a bit more than Percy made working at the Ministry. You could not get rich doing missions for the Order but you could make enough to support a family it seemed.

A family would be nice, a decent house with a big yard and a pond outback for the kids.

He stuck his face under the shower spray wondering how he could even be thinking about a family. Maybe it was just a Weasley family thing. When he reached for the soap a second time he brushed one of the blisters on his hand and winced in pain. One of the stranger traditions of the Order was the practice of having all men at arms, squires and Knights train with swords. When he had asked why they still did it the only answer he got was that a Knight should be able to fight well with a sword. It still seemed very odd to him but he could understand tradition. He had asked that question right after the fight when he had been given his Order name. During one of the training matches Val had been hit a bit too hard, in his opinion, by a stunning spell. His response had been to stun one of his opponents and punch the other one in the face, causing his jaw to swell up a good bit. When Val had been woken up and told what had happened she had started calling him Fury and the Knights doing the training had thought it was perfect.

He had been hurt when he hadn't been asked to join the Order of the Phoenix but now it seemed like it had been for the best. This place fit him in a way the Order could never have. Here he was no one's brother or best friend; here he was who his talents and skills let him be. One day with hard work he and Val would join the ranks of the Knights of the Order and perhaps even have their names inscribed in the Hall of Hero's. Seeing the statues and hearing the stories of the Knights represented there had been quite inspiring, foremost among the Knights was their real sense of obligation to the world, to have a gift and to not use it for the good of mankind was anathema to them. Most of the Knight's stories ended in them falling in battle defeating their foe or saving many lives. The overall effect had been to inspire them and at the same time let the squires know of the weight of their choices.

Ron got out and started to dry off taking care to not further inflame the many bruises covering his torso. They could have been taken care of with magic by any of the Order's healers but the Knight's thought bruises gotten in training were fine teaching tools. His stomach rumbled and he thought about going down to the kitchens then thought better of it. He had to get up early for his first mission and he wanted to have a big breakfast so he had to get up even earlier. Finishing his toweling off he got dressed and walked down the hall from the showers to his room. Quickly getting undressed he slipped under the heavy blankets and quilts covering the bed. As with every time he got in bed his thoughts shifted to Hermione. He hoped she was enjoying her visit with her parents and he looked forward to seeing her in a couple of days. Pushing his concerns about staying with her family aside he focused on more pressing matters or matters he would like to be pressing.

I wonder what Hermione sleeps in now?

When they had been younger she had slept in pajamas just like he and Harry. Ron had stopped wearing pajamas though every now and again he would wear just the bottoms if it was cold; otherwise it was boxers only since they were less restrictive. Forcing himself to stop thinking about what she was wearing he turned on to his side and slowly drifted off to sleep with a picture of two luminous brown eyes in the back of his mind.

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This was the time of night she had always liked the best. The quiet was comforting and it was a great time to read just a little bit before going to bed. She carefully set her book down and looked at her room. It was mostly unchanged since she had first left to attend Hogwarts as she had spent less and less time at home during the holidays. Though she had been spending less time with her family she still felt a surge of warmth as she looked around the room. She remembered her father reading her stories when she was very little. He had taught her how to read very young and had always been there to help with words she might not have understood and always brought her more books when she wanted them. She had a hard time making friends when she had first gone to Muggle school. It was perfectly understandable, she was just so far ahead of her classmates and they didn't understand how or why. At the time however, she had not understood why no one liked her. Many times her father had wrapped his arms around her when she had cried over how the other kids had treated her. He would smile and tell her that she was just too special for those kids but one day she would meet other special children and then she would have all the friends she wanted. She would smile at her father and nod her head though she often thought it might be nice to not be so special but to just have friends.

Then her Hogwarts letter came and she knew without a doubt she was indeed special. Her mother had been overjoyed with the news. Her father on the other hand had not been so happy to find out his daughter was going to be leaving for a school no matter how prestigious. He had seriously considered not letting her go but in the end he had relented since she had her heart set on going. The day she left for Hogwarts at the King's Cross station was the first time she had seen her father cry. It was only a single tear but it had startled her.

"Why are you crying Daddy? I will be home soon." she had asked.

He had smiled down at her "One day my little princess you are going to leave and not come home. One day you won't be my little princess anymore."

Hermione had laughed "I will always be your princess Daddy."

Her father smiled at her as another tear ran down his face. "One day my dearest daughter, a boy is going to take my little princess away from me and you are going to be happy he does."

"I don't think you have to worry about that Daddy, no boys like me."

"That is just because you haven't met the right boy yet. One day you will bring him home and it will break my heart. I just want you to make sure any boy you come to love is worthy of my greatest treasure."

She had nodded her head and then thrown her arms around him. Then she had hugged her mother and gotten on the train. Hermione glanced over at the bedside table where a picture of Harry, Ron and her was sitting. She and Harry were waving at the camera but Ron was looking over at her when she hadn't been looking with what could only be described as a totally goofy expression.

Tears started to roll down Hermione's face. She was bringing that boy home in a couple of days and she would no longer be her father's princess. Her father had been right, she was glad to be bringing Ron home but the idea that she wasn't her Daddy's little girl anymore hurt her more than she could have imagined. For a brief moment she thought she should tell Ron not to come and maybe she could hold on for another year. Then she looked at the picture again. Ron had turned his face to the photographer and his eyes were flashing liked she loved them to do. Her father had told her to be sure the boy was worthy and she was. She would always fiercely love her father but he was right all along, now she was someone else's princess.

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Neville walked to the kitchen covered in sweat, his mind reeling with memories of the past few days. He wondered how he had gotten a beautiful woman to fall in love with him, him the laughingstock of Gryffindor, the clumsiest boy to ever go through the doors of Hogwarts. Until this year he had been so afraid of girls that he got almost sick thinking about asking them out. In his fourth year he had asked Ginny Weasley to the ball and even though she said yes he had still gotten sick very soon after that. Girls never really looked at him for most of his school years. Harry and Ron seemed to think that girls hadn't been paying them much attention but Neville knew differently. The girls had always thought Harry was cute and over the last year Ron had become the subject of much female conversation. Not that it mattered though, Ron was so besotted by Hermione that Neville doubted if Ron even knew other women existed.

How Harry and Ron had decided that he was good enough to be one of their friends never ceased to amaze Neville. He was certain that he would do everything in his power to make sure they didn't regret it. Right now though her had something just as important to take care of. He grabbed two butterbeers and thanked Merlin once again that his Gran was away for a week visiting friends. Then heading back up the stairs he turned to his right and opened the door.

The sight took his breath away, never had Neville hoped to imagine a beautiful blonde lying in his bed covered by nothing but a thin sheet. Her eyes opened and the smile she gave him turned his knees to jelly. She reached for him and the bottle dropped to the floor unopened and unwanted. Looking into her eyes he found himself glad that no one else could see past her radish ear rings or bottle cap necklaces to see how truly wonderful she really was. Then all Neville knew was passion and heat until he finally managed to fall asleep many hours later.

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The air was cool and crisp as Harry and Ginny walked down to the pond at the Burrow. They seemed to relish the quiet that had surrounded the house. Ron and Hermione were gone, Fred and George had to work late and they rest of the Weasleys had gone to take care of some Order business. It had been the perfect opportunity for some serious snogging and then they decided to take a walk to cool down after getting a bit to heated. Ginny did most of the talking as Harry listened to her recounting stories about what had happened in various romances back at Hogwarts. Harry really didn't care one bit but he loved the sound of Ginny's voice so it didn't matter what she was saying. Harry was also looking forward to meeting Ron in Diagon Ally tomorrow. It had been a while since the two of them had been able to go blow off some steam and have a good time. Right now however as he and Ginny gazed up at the moon there was no place he would rather be.

A/N Sorry it has been a few days but I couldn't get logged in to update because of the site upgrades.