Chapter 10: Taste of the Forbidden

Ron was roughly thrown to the floor of this dank and dreary cellar. He tried not to flinch at the metallic clang of the barred door slamming shut behind him.

He got to his feet and dusted himself off. What a fool he was, to have abandoned Harry and Hermione on the Hunt! He had regretted Disapparating from the Forest of Dean the moment after he had done it, but before he could resolve to try and return (never mind how he would Deliberate enough to return to a place that was hidden by wards), he had landed amidst a group of Snatchers. Ron had tried to fight them off and get away, even gone for one of the bastards' wands, but they had overpowered him and brought him here, to Malfoy Manor.

Ron started to scour along the walls for a chink, an indicator of a secret passageway or something, even as he figured any such flaw would have already been sealed off by the Malfoys and their Death Eater colleagues. He wondered if he was the only prisoner down here.

The answer came sooner than expected.

"Ron? Ronald Weasley, is that you?"

Ron felt his blood oddly run cold at the sound of her dulcet tones. Oh, Godric... she was down here?

"Luna?!..."

"Yes, yes, it's me!" And she actually sounded happy to see him. Then again, it was Luna, who was just enough of an eternal optimist to find the bright side in being held captive. "Oh, Dean, mind my foot..."

"Here! Here, I've got..." Ron rummaged around at his feet, in his trainers, just as Luna was stepping into the teeny sliver of moonlight that percolated down the stairs and through the door.

Ron froze when he saw her. Her face was still as ovate and lovely as ever. Her silver eyes that always seemed to peer right through him. Her head was tilted to one side, like an inquisitive puppy, and she blinked doefully.

"That's a curious thing to keep in your sock..." she hummed.

Lucky that he had, and that the Snatchers hadn't been smart enough to search him down there, Ron thought, and he clicked the Deluminator. Four balls of light came shooting out, but without any lamps in which to sequester, the light simply hung there, floating in mid-air.

By its glow, Ron could now see he wasn't alone: aside from Luna, there was also Dean Thomas, who last he'd heard had been on the run from Voldemort's goons, Mr. Ollivander the wandmaker who had been missing for weeks, and a little goblin he did not recognize.

Ron stiffened as he suddenly felt how Luna had crossed the room in three strides and was hugging him around the middle, her head resting on his chest. Clearing his throat, he silently rubbed her back. She drew away, if only just slightly, peering up into his face.

"What happened?" she searched his eyes with concern.

Ron kept his answer opaque, uncertain who might be listening. "I made a mistake. I Apparated right into the midst of some Snatchers and they caught me."

Luna's silver orbs probed him, before she finally nodded slowly. Ron felt a pang lance through him at the thought that Luna suspected exactly what had gone on, despite his attempts to keep it vague. He wondered if - even feared that - she was disappointed in him.

"I was pulled off the train," she murmured quietly. "Going home for Christmas." Glancing down, she realized how her arms were still wound about his waist and she dropped them, stepping back. Her cheeks looked warm, despite the chilly draft down here.

"Are they feeding you?" Ron appraised Luna's thin and petite form.

Dean nodded. "There are crates of food down here that we've been able to break into. It's not a feast, but..." he shrugged.

"Blankets?"

Luna shook her head. "That's one of the few things they haven't given us." Taking Ron's hand, she guided him over to the others. "To sleep at night, we've had to share body heat, so let's get comfortable..."

The five of them settled down to sleep together. Feeling his heart let out an odd stutter at how Luna pressed up against him, Ron curled into the fetal position and tried to close his eyes.

DREAM

Everyone had heard the stories of the Madwoman in the Rookery, who lived just over the hill.

As an Auror, Ron was duty-bound to perform a welfare check on anyone who was reported to possibly be in danger, and the people of Devonshire, though leery of performing such a task themselves, were altruistic enough folk to want even the least of these checked on.

It also was convenient that he lived at the Burrow, the closest neighboring property to the place.

Luna Lovegood, the Madwoman, was quite a jarring presence. She kept babbling on about creatures that didn't exist, always had a vacant expression on her face, and appeared to see things that weren't there. Ron tried to be patient and understanding, as he performed a welfare check every day.

Before he even realized it, he and Luna had developed a tentative friendship.

That friendship shifted one day when Ron came round to find Luna covered in her own excrement, laughing and giggling. He gave her a bath and scrubbed her down. As he toweled her off, he tried to not let his palms brush over the swell of her pert little breasts.

At least until Luna caught his wrist and guided his hand tocupher tits.

She pressed into his chest, her nipples straining, as she shoved a thigh in between his. A silent proposition.

Ron took her to the bed and mounted her. They mated. It wasn't long before Luna's joining with him had covered both her and him in fluids of a very different kind.

From then on, the joining of their hips became their greeting. A carnal quickie in the foyer became their howy-do. When Ginny once walked in on her brother in bed with the lady, she told Ron to ask for her, Ginny's, blessing before asking for Luna's hand. When Ron at last did propose marriage, Luna laughed wildly until Ron silenced her with a bruising kiss. He was shocked and delighted when Luna, clutching at him and kissing him back, whispered into his mouth, "Yes, yes! I will marry you!"

END OF DREAM

His palm was holding something very round and firm.

He could hear pleasured moaning as something swayed against him...

Still somewhat lost in the dream, Ron squeezed his eyes shut tight and puckered his lips further, lolling his tongue out to flick the little bud under his mouth, causing it to pebble. He felt a long and creamy, svelte leg shove in between his thighs and he ground down on it. He squeezed the boob he now weighed in his fist.

"Mmmmm... Ronald..." A high and lilting, dreamy voice sighed in his ear.

In his ear...

Ron's eyes popped open as he realized he wasn't dreaming: he woke up to find that somehow, Luna Lovegood had ended up in his lap, straddling him. Her shirt was missing, leaving her only in her dirty bra. He was feeling up her nipples, practically making love to her.

Ron watched as Luna's long blonde eyelashes fluttered, as her eyes blinked dreamily open. She smiled down at Ron dazedly... and then the smile fell from her expression as it dawned on her oh, Merlin... they were...

Ron and Luna jumped apart, both of them somehow managing not to scream and thus wake the others. Fishing about for her jumper, Luna tugged it over her head, her face on fire and mortified.

"What... Ronald, what on Earth were you doing?!" Luna's voice was just a tick below a screech.

"Me? What were you doing?!" Ron demanded, trying not to think about her long and lithe legs shoved between his, humping him.

"I... I..." Luna's face flushed. "I must have been dreaming. That's all." She turned her face away.

Ron stared. Dreaming? Had she been dreaming of him? Why? And why had he been dreaming of making love to her? When the woman he wanted was stranded back in the Forest of Dean?

Turning his own face away, Ron now caught sight of one of the balls of light from the Deluminator. It appeared to be floating towards him. Brow furrowing, he stood, trying to put the fact that he and Luna had practically been shagging, out of his mind.

"Ronald...?" Luna's soft voice petered over to him.

He ignored her, drifting closer to the ball of light that was coming to meet him. The light ball drifted right up to his chest...

... and then went into his chest. Ron felt its heat flood him.

At that moment, he knew intuitively what he had to do. Turning back to Luna, he grimaced at her apologetically.

"I have to go."

"Go where?" she blinked, befuddled.

"I'll come back for you lot, Luna. I promise." And with that, Ron turned on the spot and Disapparated.

He reappeared on a hillside in deep night. Glancing about, Ron's gaze finally landed on an ethereal glowing deer. Hang about: was that a Patronus? And if so, whose?

Swallowing, Ron followed the apparition into the forest...