December 26, 2002

Ron was eating breakfast on Boxing Day when there was a loud "pop" just outside the Burrow gate. He'd been trying to untangle his thoughts about Luna all morning. The way she'd looked at him when he dropped her off...the way he'd almost kissed her without thinking...

He felt a rush of adrenaline when he heard a familiar, dreamy voice enter the foyer. "Good morning, Molly. I had just come to ask Ronald if I could borrow Pigwigeon. I sent Badius to London this morning for Ginny, but then I noticed the wrackspurts were behaving strangely and I need to contact my father as soon as possible. I'm sure Pig would love a chance to see Portugal –"

She stopped abruptly when they entered the kitchen, eyes wide. She didn't look at Ron exactly, but rather around him. Her eyes flickered to panic, then recognition.

"I'm...I'm..." she seemed to be at a loss for words. She took a deep breath and met his eyes. "Ronald, could I borrow..."

"Pig?" he finished, "sure...let me...he'd be happy to..." and Ron raced upstairs to avoid her unguarded gaze, and the feeling that he was 15 years old again. He whipped down the stairs a few moments later, Pigwidgeon flapping excitedly behind him. "See? He's excited to go."

"Thank you, Ronald. I'll take him out to the garden with directions." Luna seemed to have gotten control of herself. "I've begun reading my book. Once Badius is back, I'll Owl you about some of the things I've learned."

"Yeah..." Ron felt like the wind got knocked out of him, just standing in the kitchen with her. "I, um, hung your painting. It looks nice, with the Cannons posters..."

Babbling again. She thinks you're a tosser, Ron thought.

"Well, that's good. I was hoping you'd get good use from it." Luna stood looking at him, the silence awkward.

Molly was looking back and forth between the pair, much as Ginny had on Christmas. She whispered something to Arthur, who had been reading The Prophet and generally ignoring everything around him.

Arthur looked over his glasses at Ron and Luna with a small smile. He cleared his throat. Looked at his wife. Molly nodded at him. "Good to see you Luna, feel free to come by any time."

Molly huffed under her breath and turned back to the dishes.

With Pig perched on her arm, Luna began making her way to the garden. "I have a few lines I need to add to this note, then I'll send him on his way. Thank you, Ron, Molly, Arthur."

A few minutes later there was a "pop" from the garden.

Molly gave Arthur a knowing look and he sighed. "Ron, your mother wants me to have a Talk with you..."

Ron followed his father into the shed, head down against the winter wind. Once they'd shut the door and cast warming charms (since shutting the door did little to keep out the drafts), Ron and Arthur stared at one another awkwardly.

Ron broke the silence. "Didn't we have a Talk a few years ago? And again when I moved in with Hermione? And again when Ginny let loose about the Susan thing? What's mum's obsession?"

"Remember that you're the last one left," Arthur said. "She's hung up on propriety and such lately." He took a deep breath and began figeting with a muggle smoke detector. "And she's worried about Luna's feelings. We know what you kids always said about her, calling her Loony and such-"

"Dad, she is kind of Loony. No denying that."

"But your mum has taken to her, especially since Xeno stayed in Portugal and let her come live alone up there in the hills. And mum wants you to be kind to her, treat her nicely..."

"What gives everyone the idea that something's going on anyway?"

Arthur glanced up from the battery he was inspecting with a grin. "Ronald, you're not subtle. You nearly fell over yourself when she showed up this morning."

"Oh, that..."

"Anyway, mum says no more staying over there all night."

"And?"

"And that's it." Arthur thought for a moment. "Well, she might have said more, but..." he returned to popping batteries in and out of the device, "I was reading the paper..."

The smoke detector beeped a few times as the battery snapped into place.

"Want me to stay out here awhile longer so she thinks you were listening?"

"That would be helpful."

After the Boxing Day Talk, Ron hoped that the worst of it was over. After all, he was a grown man, and his parents had no business trying to figure out how he felt about Luna, particularly when Ron himself was still puzzling that one out.

Ron almost forgot that he had an obnoxious little sister who happened to be married to his best friend. And the pair loved to taunt him.

Sunday Dinner started out relatively tame. Harry and Ginny were on what they called "Teddy Duty" (every few weeks they gave Andromeda some much-needed time off), so dinner was a flurry of 4-year-old questions and stories, with the addition of Victoire's 3-year-old questions. Percy's daughter, Baby Molly would occasionally interrupt the bigger kids with her babbling and yells, much to the amusement of the adults.

After dinner George and Angelina offered to take all of the kids up to George's old room to work on a surprise for Molly and Arthur. Most of the remaining adults retired to the sitting room. As he went to sit down, however, Ron found himself re-directed toward the stairs by his sister and best friend.

"Sit," commanded Ginny as she shut the door to her bedroom. Ron sat on the bed as Harry didn't even bother to hide his grin.

Harry and Ginny shared a look, then Harry nodded at her. "Ginny wants to talk about Luna," said Harry.

"What about her?"

"She liked you," started Ginny. "Back in my fourth year."

Ron thought back to his fifth year, and a few odd occurrences began to fall into place.

"Yeah?" he finally said in a strangled way.

Ginny crossed her legs on the bed and looked at Ron's face intently. "But she stopped? You want to know why?"

"Why?"

"Because you're a total tosser, Ron. You were such a jerk to her! Harry was at least nice to her-"

"Leave me out of this!"

"-but you and Hermione were terrible! Calling her Loony, poking fun at the Quibbler, laughing behind her back..."

"We were fifteen!"

"Yes, and you haven't grown up a bit since then, have you?"

Harry cleared his throat. "Well, I feel like Ron has grown up a little..." upon seeing Ginny's face he trailed off.

"My brother is a git," Ginny turned back to Ron, "and he needs to figure out what he wants. What's going on with you and Luna? You're in every owl she sends me, you spend the night at her house, and you give each other these super personal Christmas gifts..."

"You forgot the time they slept on the sofa," interjected Harry.

"AND, you sleep together on the sofa."

Ron looked down at his hands. When you put it that way, it did sound...well...suspicious.

"I don't know," he finally said.

"You don't know what?" said Ginny.

"I don't know what's going on, or what I feel."

Harry groaned, "not this again."

"Not what again?" asked Ron.

"Not the 'Ron clearly fancies this girl, but can't figure himself out' thing. Like I have time to watch you stick your thumb up your arse for 2 years. Again."

"Thanks, Harry. Your support always means a lot."

"So you fancy her?" asked Ginny.

"I didn't say that."

Harry and Ginny looked at him expectantly.

"So you don't fancy her?" asked Harry.

"I didn't say that either."

"So you're going to make our lives miserable?" said Harry.

"Probably."

Ginny let out a sound that Ron had only ever heard from Hagrid's Skrewts. Somewhere between a scream and a growl. "This isn't even the real reason I wanted to talk to you, but it makes everything more complicated. Ron, I'm telling you now that I expect you to make a scene on New Years, and I expect it will be mortifying for everyone, and I expect you to tell everyone afterward that I predicted it."

Ron looked at his sister in confusion, then to Harry for an explanation.

"Hermione's bringing Bran. Ginny expects you to make an arse of yourself. Luna will also be there."

"Why would I make an arse of myself?"

Ginny began pacing in agitation. "Because Hermione is bringing a bloke and you have the delicacy of an Erumpet. Because even if you're over her, she's still Hermione, so you'll make a big deal about things. And because his name is Bran and Harry has spent the past month coming up with grain-related puns, which I'm sure you'll encourage."

"I call him Oats."

"And if you fancy Luna, you'll either try to make her jealous or you'll make a fool out of yourself in another way. And Dean will be there, and it's awkward enough that I dated him, but Luna did, too, and—"

"I feel like we should expand our social circle," said Harry.

"—and this is important to me because I just want one nice social gathering where Neville doesn't throw up and no one is angry or awkward."

"But Harry will be there. He's awkward all the time."

"I will have you know that I had lunch with Hermione and Bran, and it was not awkward for even one moment," Harry said quietly.

"Hermione tells the story different," Ginny shot back.

Thankful that the focus was off of him, Ron gingerly tried to make his way toward the door, but his sister grabbed him by the collar.

"Nope, I can argue with Harry any time. You're staying here."

And then, Ginny laid into him about the 'standards of behavior' she expected, and what was and was not appropriate during New Years. Harry gave him a sympathetic look over her shoulder, and Ron began to tune her out.

Figuring out his feelings was hard enough. The addition of Bran (Wheat? Rye? The possibilities were endless) and Ginny's protectiveness simply complicated them more.