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042. Glimpse

A/N: This piece is chronologically all over the place. All you need to know is that this happens over Christmas hols while Ron & Pansy are at the Burrow.

Arthur was surprised to come home from work to find a girl other than Hermione wrapped up in Ron's arms on the porch. He vaguely remembered seeing the same girl in the infirmary with Harry and Ginny when Ron had had his accident but he didn't remember her ever speaking or introducing herself. Arthur whacked his brain trying to remember what Ginny and Harry called her but he couldn't recall her name. But it didn't matter, the moment he watched his youngest son pull her completely into his lap; wrap his arms protectively around the smaller girl and kiss her forehead. It was at that very moment that his youngest boy was no longer a boy; he was now a man.

Percy almost asked Harry where Ron and Hermione were when he stepped through the Floo. Luckily Ginny was able to land a solid shot to his mid-section before the words came out, for moments later Ron entered the kitchen not with Hermione but a small sprite of girl with long black hair and bold hazel eyes. Eyes that were eerily familiar though he couldn't put his finger on where he had seen such an unusual shade before. He only admitted to Bill later that though he had missed Hermione as she was always eager for conversation about his favorite topics, he liked this new girl – she had manners and somehow managed to instill them finally into Ron.

Bill and Fleur had purposefully arrived early to Christmas Eve dinner for a glimpse of Ron and Pansy outside of Hogwarts; both curious as how the two would interact without the constant stress they knew had to be interfering in their lives. Arthur just grinned at the two as they hurried into the house only to stop short at the scene in the living room: Ron and Pansy in a heated game of Exploding Snap. It was only at that moment, that Bill realized he couldn't remember ever hearing her laugh before.

George tiptoed up to Ron's room, fully anticipating giving his younger brother and his best mate the wake-up they fully deserved. However, the dawning of the light revealed two things to George that stopped him in his tracks: there was no sign of Harry or the camp bed he usually slept in but there was a girl in Ron's bed. The same girl from the infirmary. The one who had had a death grip on her chair as she had sat by Ron's bed when he had taken that fall. The one with those glowing hazel eyes that he remembered from his first year at Hogwarts.

Charlie stumbled into the living room way past midnight on Christmas day – tired and hungry, having only barely been able to escape the reserve for a couple of days at this time of the year. The sight of his youngest brother curled up with a girl with black hair on the sofa taking him by surprise in more ways than one. He could have sworn that Ron was dating a girl name Hermione; one with light brown hair. However, he figured he would find out more in the morning.

Unfortunately, Charlie wasn't paying attention to where he was going and accidentally tripped over a side table trying to get to the stairs. The girl's eyes shot open as she sat up and he found his eyes locked with glowing hazel eyes. The same ones he thought he would never see again. Actually, the same ones he had prayed about; the ones he would never see again.

"Charlie?" she whispered, her voice strangled.

"Oh gods," was all he could get out.