And you both picked up your robes?" Ginny asked on that very same Friday evening as she, Ron, and Harry sat in the living room of her and Harry's flat. "You're sure?"

"Yes," Ron and Harry said together.

"You know, I never got a response from the caterer," she said anxiously. "I really hope that they get those last minute changes since Percy and Audrey have decided they don't eat meat any more."

"Well, if they didn't get them," Ron said as he balanced his foot on the edge of the coffee table, "Percy and Audrey don't eat."

"Ron..."

"Ginny," Harry said, leaning towards her. "Everything is ok. We've checked, double checked, and done everything in our power to make sure everything on our end is done for tomorrow."

"I know," she said, "but I can't help thinking that I'm forgetting something."

"You're just being paranoid," Ron said, looking at his sister. "Relax and enjoy your night."

"That's easy for you to say," she said as she started wringing her hands.

"He's right," Harry said, laying a reassuring hand on her. "Let's just have a good time tonight."

"What are we doing?" she asked. "Perhaps if I had an idea, it would calm my nerves."

"We're having dinner if Hermione ever decides to get here," Ron said, checking his watch. "It's nothing you have to stress yourself about."

"I think I'm going to owl Mum quickly," she said as she stood and ignored Ron. "Just to make sure she has everything she needs." She abruptly made her way straight into the kitchen.

Ron watched her go before giving Harry a sympathetic look. "I don't think I've ever seen her like this."

"You've never seen her around the playoffs, then," he mumbled. "She'll be calm tomorrow, though. Then I'll probably be the wreck."

Ron chuckled.

"I need to eat something," Harry said. "I have a feeling I need to eat as much as possible tonight since I won't be eating much tomorrow."

"Don't want to look fat in your dress robes?" Ron joked.

"Actually, it's because I have a feeling that everyone will be pulling me every which way tomorrow and I'll never really get the chance to sit and eat."

"I'll make it a priority," Ron said as he started to bounce his knee. "Make sure you're always properly fed and watered."

"That's why I made you my best man." Harry grinned and checked his watch again, just as Ginny reentered the room.

"I wonder where Hermione is," she said as she proceeded to attach a piece of parchment to their owl, Dobby, before taking him over to the window. "It's not like her to be this late."

Harry shrugged as he absently watched her cross the room to let Dobby out the front window. He turned back to Ron. "So, hey, what ever happened with that girl you took out? The one who works for George. What's her name?"

"Lydia," Ron said. "We've been out twice now. She's nice. I like her enough."

"But it's obviously not looking serious if you're planning on mov-" Harry stopped once Ron threw him an impatient look. Both of them glanced at Ginny, who was shutting the window behind her. She didn't look as if she'd been paying attention.

"Lydia knows," he whispered before returning to a normal tone. "I've made my intentions pretty clear that I'm just looking to hang out and have fun."

"And she's fine with that?" Ginny asked as she returned and sat back down on the couch next to Harry.

"She didn't run off after I told her."

"I don't understand men sometimes," she said. "You're consciously taking this girl out and spending time with her, but you've already ruled out the possibility of a real relationship before you've even gotten to know her properly?"

"I haven't ruled it out entirely," Ron said lazily. "I'm just not looking for anything serious."

Ginny stared at him.

"I have my reasons," he said with a casual glance at Harry. "Plus, if I can find a girl who understands and doesn't care, then why wouldn't I be more inclined to go out with her?"

Ginny rolled her eyes as an unidentified owl suddenly appeared and began tapping at the window. She immediately hopped up to answer it.

"Have you two had…?" Harry asked with a knowing look as soon as Ginny disappeared. "You know?"

"No," Ron said, realizing what Harry was insinuating. "Some snogging, though that's about it. Then again, I haven't really tried." He paused. "I invited her to the wedding though, so perhaps my luck will change. Girls tend to find themselves looking for companionship after weddings, don't they?"

Harry shrugged. "Most of the weddings I've been to, I've gone with your sister. I don't think you want me to answer that."

"You're absolutely right in thinking that," he said, making a face just as Ginny returned with a letter in her hands.

"You know, I think I remember her from popping into George's shop. If I'm thinking of the right girl," Harry continued. "She's blonde right? Pretty face? Sort of tall?"

"It sounds like her," Ron said. "If anything you'll see her tonight. I invited her."

Ginny's head snapped up. "You invited her to dinner? When Hermione is going to be there?"

"I…" Ron began as he realized Ginny still wasn't aware that it was a party, and not dinner with friends that they were going to tonight.

"Who's the letter from?" Harry interrupted, attempting to change the subject.

"Oh, from the caterer." She smiled a little. "They got my changes.

"See," Harry said. "There's nothing to worry about."

"I can't believe how crazy this is making me," she said before the sound of someone knocking at the door caused all three of them to look towards it.

Harry pointed his wand at the door. "It's open!"

"Well, look at it this way," Ron began. "Tomorrow you'll be…" He started to trail off as he noticed Hermione, followed by Martin, entered through the open door.

"Look who it is," Harry said, trying to add a pleasant inflection to his voice in an attempt to hide his obvious surprise. Ginny was now smiling awkwardly as she and Harry both looked at Ron.

"Sorry we're late," Hermione said breathlessly. "I was going to come ahead on my own, but Martin ended up getting home early, so I just waited for him to get ready before coming over."

"Hey," Martin said with a smile towards Harry and Ginny. "It's all my fault, I'm sorry." He glanced at Ron. "Hi, I'm Martin Wilks." He stuck his hand out.

Ron stared at it for a moment before he forced his own out in return. "Ron Weasley."

Martin forced a surprised smile once Ron's name fully registered with him. He suddenly looked a bit awkward, but continued smiling as he glanced at Hermione. "I've heard a lot about you," he said to Ron. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"You too," Ron said, sounding as if he certainly didn't mean that.

"So, um," Ginny asked, looking from face to face before settling on Ron's, "are we meeting your date there, Ron?"

"Where is there?" Harry asked, trying to cut some of the awkward tension in the room.

"Well," Hermione said, smiling brightly at Ron and seeming to be the only one not affected by the awkwardness in the room, "I think we can tell them now."

"Be my guest," he said, trying his best to distance himself from her so as to not insight possible dirty looks from her boyfriend.

"Ron and I," she said excitedly, "have decided to throw you a sort of joint stag and doe party. Now, I know it may sound silly, but I just thought it was stupid that because of one's sex you can't enjoy the other one's party. I mean, you're both my friends and I wanted to celebrate with both of you."

Harry and Ginny exchanged pleasant expressions.

"Well, this is unexpected," Ginny said.

"It is," Harry added. "And you're right. It probably will be more fun this way."

Hermione smiled. "Shall we go then?"

"Yes," said Ron almost immediately, darting towards the door.

"So, wait," Harry asked. "Does that mean we're still eating? Because Ginny and I didn't eat because we thought we were going out to dinner."

"You can get food where we're going," Hermione said as she and Martin stepped out of the door that Ron had left open, "which is the Leaky Cauldron. Oh, and don't worry because the food is much better now. We'll see you there."

"Okay," Harry said before Hermione and Martin disappeared into the darkness. He glanced at Ginny.

"Did you know?" she asked him.

"Ron let it slip that it was a party earlier," he said. "But don't tell Hermione that."

"It's really sweet of them," she said as Harry took her hand.

"They are the best."

"Did you see Ron's face when Martin walked in?"

Harry grimaced and suddenly felt a tugging sensation around his stomach. When he opened his eyes, they were both standing inside the crowded Leaky Cauldron. There were many familiar and unfamiliar faces scouring the room, but a select crowd of people cheered when they noticed the new arrivals.

"Oh, Merlin's beard…" Ginny said, looking around and noticing her friends, some teammates, and several of her family members smiling at them. "I didn't know this many people would be here!"

"I didn't either," Harry said as a pleasantly familiar voice spoke from nearby.

"Hello, you two."

The both turned, but Ginny screamed, "Luna!" before Harry had even had to chance to register who it was. She was already hugging her tightly

"It's good to see you," Luna said as she hugged her back. She didn't look a day older than from when they had last seen her, but she had a definite new sense of life and excitement in her eyes. "I've missed you both."

"We've missed you, too," Harry said, just as several people walked past him and patted him on the back. "It's really good to see you, Luna."

"I'm so very excited for the two of you," she said with a soft smile.

"Thank you," said Ginny sincerely. "Oh, I want to hear everything you've been up to! I've missed you!"

"There's so much to tell," Luna said. "You'll never believe some of the things I've discovered and seen."

Harry smiled. "Lots of Crumple-Horned Snorkacks?"

"Oh, no," she said with a sudden serious expression. "Haven't you heard? They don't actually exist." She frowned slightly. "I've only recently discovered this myself, so it's no surprise you haven't heard this yet as well."

"You don't say?" Ron said he walked up to the group with two pints in hand. He handed Harry one.

"Oh, hello, Ron," Luna said happily. "Thank you for letting me know about this tonight. It's been so nice seeing everyone."

"My pleasure."

"Thanks for getting me a drink, Ron," Ginny said sarcastically as she observed the one he had brought for Harry.

"I'm Harry's best man," he said, as if his reasoning should be obvious. "It's my job to make sure he always has one in hand. You need to go get on Hermione's case."

Ginny rolled her eyes as Luna tapped her elbow. "Let me," she said. "We can catch up."

"I'd like that," Ginny said. She glanced at Harry and grinned before glancing at her brother and throwing him a smug look.

"So, who else is here?" Harry asked once the girls made their way towards the bar.

"Some people from work," he began, "some of my brothers, a few friends, maybe a handful of people from school."

"Yeah, there's Neville," Harry said, pointing to where Ginny was excitedly hugging Neville. "And Hannah."

"Hagrid said he'd be here," Ron said. "Just that he'd get here when he could."

"This is great, mate," he said happily. "Thanks for all this."

"It was mostly Hermione's doing," Ron said. "I just helped invite people."

"Either way," he said as he clanked his glass against Ron's, "I appreciate it."

"And hey," Ron added. "Just so you know, there are enough people here in your honor that you shouldn't have to buy a drink all night. Not that you ever really have to anyway, given that everyone is always queuing up to buy 'The Boy Who Lived' a drink, but I'm just saying—"

"Well, I have to sometimes," Harry joked as Hermione suddenly approached the two of them and grabbed them both by the arm.

"Hey," she said excitedly to Harry. "Were you surprised?"

"This is fantastic, Hermione," he said as he put his arm around her shoulder and gave her a friendly squeeze. "I think this is just what Ginny needed to relax before tomorrow."

"And you!" she said to him. "Don't think I don't know that you're going just a bit mental, too. I mean, you're getting married tomorrow, Harry."

"Perhaps a little," he said as the three of them smiled at each other.

"Well, I'm glad," Hermione said brightly, just as Ron suddenly nudged her.

"So, uh, Ginny had to go to the bar to get her own drink," he said, faking serious concern. "I thought you were the maid of honor?"

"Did you get Harry that?" she asked as she pointed to the drink in Harry's hand.

"Absolutely," he said. "Because I am the best man." He smiled. "In every way."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Hermione joked as she patted him on the shoulder. She threw him a quick smile before heading towards the bar in an attempt to find Ginny.

He smiled as he watched her go, though he turned back to Harry and muttered, "So, that was Martin earlier."

Harry looked over to a table where Martin was sitting with a bloke he recognized from Hermione's office. "That it was."

"He's taller than I thought," Ron said. "I pictured him to be shorter for some reason."

Harry shrugged just as whatever music had been playing suddenly started to get a little louder. Some people cheered at this change, though Harry was quickly distracted by Mal suddenly appearing next to the pair of them.

"Hi, boss," she said with a sloppy smile. She looked as if she'd already had a few drinks.

"Oh, don't call me that," Harry said as Mal observed his half empty glass. "We're not at work and I'm not really your boss."

"What are you two drinking?" she asked, seemingly ignoring him. "Next round is on me."

"You don't have to do that," Harry said.

"Shut up," Ron said, throwing Harry an obvious look before turning to Mal. "We're drinking the house stuff."

"Anything for the birthday boy!" Mal said in a slurred sort of way as she disappeared into the crowd. Ron laughed.

"Birthday boy?" Harry asked curiously.

"I do what I have to do to keep things quiet," he said as he and Harry followed Mal towards the bar. After a little pushing, they managed to wiggle their way up to the very front, where Ron caught himself looking down the length of the bar to where Ginny was sitting and sipping on something green.

"Found yourself a drink, then, have you?" he yelled across several people, so she could hear him.

"Found yourself two?" Ginny called back just as Mal handed both Harry and Ron a pint. She smiled at them both before returning to her conversation with Luna, Neville, and Hermione.

"You sure got enough people here," Hannah said to Ron from behind the bar. She smiled at Harry. "Nice to see you, Harry. Congratulations."

"Thanks," he yelled back over the noise.

Ron smiled. "I told you it'd be festive, Hannah."

"Harry!" said George Weasley, appearing from somewhere through the crowd. "I need you to settle a bet between Lee Jordan and me." He tugged at his arm. "Right now, it's sort of important."

"What's the bet—?" Harry began to ask, but George had already started forcibly pulling him away without another word.

"Brace yourself, Harry," Ron called after him before he shook his head in an amused manner. He leaned back against the bar and glanced down towards where Ginny, Hermione, and Luna were now laughing about something. He watched them with a smile on his face as it started to remind him of the past.

Just then, Hermione looked up and caught his eye. She gave him a friendly smile, which he automatically found himself returning. That especially reminded him of the past. He couldn't help but be reminded of that funny feeling Hermione used to give him just by smiling at him, but he knew that was just nostalgia playing with his head. She suddenly gestured for him to come and join them now that he was standing there on his own. He couldn't think of any reason why he should, so he shrugged and turned to make his way towards them. However, when he felt a sudden hand on his back, he paused in his tracks.

"Hey," Lydia said with a smile. "I was looking all over for you."

"Hey," he said as he noticed she looked tired, but still pretty. "You just get off work?"

She nodded. "Just finished closing up shop. I just saw George and Lee across the room so I know they're probably already a few drinks in."

Ron grinned. "I only saw George a second ago, but knowing him…" He made a face. Lydia laughed as Hannah appeared to see if she would like anything.

"Whatever he's having," she said indifferently.

"It's on me," Ron said to Hannah.

"Well, thank you," Lydia said as she leaned up and kissed him quickly on the cheek.

He grinned. "Thank you," he said as he happened to catch a glance back down the bar. Ginny, Luna, and Hermione were now all watching him. "Uhh," he said looking back towards Lydia and feeling a sudden desire to move. "Do you want to come with me to go rescue Harry from George and Lee?"

"Sure," she said as he took her hand and led her through the crowd towards the other side of the room, where George and Lee looked to be interrogating Harry about who knew what.

Across the bar, Luna leaned in towards Ginny. "I know that girl with Ron. She was in Ravenclaw."

"I've never met her," Ginny said. "George hired her not too long ago for the shop. She and Ron just started seeing each other."

"Her name's Lydia," Hermione said as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I met her the other day."

"That's right," Luna said, pulling the cocktail onion out of her drink. "She was younger than me, but she was always very polite." She dropped the onion back into her drink with a plop. "She and Ron seem very sweet together."

"He says he likes her," Ginny said, looking over her shoulder in the direction that they had walked off in, "but that it's nothing serious. Who even knows what that means though?"

"They just met," said Hermione flatly, a doubtful expression growing evident across her face by the second. "Of course it's nothing serious."

Ginny stared at Hermione with a curious expression, but Luna spoke before she could. "He might change his mind."

Ginny nodded. "He might."

"You know, I'm going to go and see what Martin's up to," said Hermione abruptly before she stood. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

"All right," Ginny said she and Luna watched her go. "I wonder what's gotten into her."

"She may be jealous."

"I don't think so…" said Ginny, though her tone didn't sound entirely convinced. "I haven't seen any reason to think she would be, and I see her a lot." She hesitated and stared at Luna curiously. "You really think…?"

Luna cocked her head to the side. "Well, I don't know why she and Ron decided they weren't right for each other, but Hermione's body language just then was very telling."

"Was it?" Ginny asked with a bewildered expression. "I didn't see anything out of the ordinary from her."

"Was she the one who decided to split up with Ron or was it the other way around?" Luna asked before she pulled her cocktail onion out of her drink again.

"Depends on who you ask," Ginny said. "I'm prone to believe it was Ron who did it, no matter how much he claims it was Hermione."

"Why is that?"

Ginny sighed. "Hermione," she hesitated, "let's be honest, Ron can be an idiot. He became this really difficult person in the months leading up to when they split up. None of us knew what was wrong with him because he wouldn't talk to anyone. He shut every single one of us out, and if we asked him what was wrong, he would go off on us and tell us he was just stressed." She paused and sipped her drink. "I'm still not positive what it was all actually about, but Hermione and Harry both say it had something to do with Ron feeling miserable working for George at the shop, and that no one understood him or something." She focused her eyes on the glass in her hands. "But how were we supposed to understand anything if he wouldn't talk to anyone?"

Luna nodded thoughtfully.

"Anyway, he got to be really moody," she continued. "I don't know how Hermione did it. She spent an evening or two at our flat crying to me about how she didn't know what to do. She couldn't get through to him and that she tried to talk to him but he kept pushing her away. Harry was finding himself getting snapped at every time he tried to confront Ron and, honestly, the whole thing was just so strange. It got to the point where I told Hermione that she needed to stop blaming herself for his behavior and that Ron was the one who needed to stop ignoring his problems and pretending they didn't exist. He needed to stop taking them out on everyone else…"

Luna nodded once more as she started stirring her drink with her straw.

"She kept swearing to me that if they stuck things out, everything would be fine. It was just a rough patch, or whatever," Ginny said. "Which is why I think it was Ron who ended things. Hermione told me far too many times just how important it was to stick by him for me to believe that just days later, she would have broken up with him." She paused. "Of course, she never told Harry any of this, so he tends to sit on the fence about it all, not picking sides or whatever."

"I see," Luna said.

Ginny looked back over to where Hermione was now sitting with Martin. "Martin ended up sort of being there to pick up the pieces, I guess. They work together and she ended up spending endless hours at work when things got to be too much. I think she sort of got caught up in having someone listen to her. He's an alright guy," she turned back to Luna, "but I don't think he's the right guy for Hermione. I think deep down, Hermione knows that, even though she doesn't want to admit it. I almost think she's afraid to let another relationship fail, so she's trying to fight for this one. You know?"

"And Ron?"

"What about him?"

"How is he now?"

"Oh," Ginny said. "Well, you saw him. Back to his old dumb self again. Telling bad jokes and being a complete dork." She smiled. "It took a bit of time, but once he started Auror training, it was as if he had this new life about him. He and Hermione seem to be getting on well enough from what I've seen though, so that's good." She smiled at Luna. "Though, I don't know if it's well enough for me to believe that Hermione's jealous of anything."

"It seems she's jealous that someone else gets to enjoy Ron when he's happy," said Luna whimsically. "If she loved him when he was miserable, she had to have loved him more when he was happy."

"Yeah, but she's with Martin now," Ginny said. "It's not as if she's looking for something else."

Luna smiled softly as she placed her drink down on the bar. "As I've learned, it's when you're not looking that you tend to find yourself discovering the most unexpected things."