Pairing(s): RW/LL, HP/NL, implied RW/HG and VK/HG

Author's Note: Semi-canon compliant and semi AU. Slight DH spoilers. Set during the summer between HBP and DH when Harry is still at Privet Drive. The whole description of Luna's house I took from DH so I hope I interpreted it in a consistent way. Also the thing about the paintings is obviously from that.

All Ronald Weasley could see was blackness, all he could feel was fabric against his face, and all he could smell was a mixture something flowery and something slightly musky. As his oxygen began to dissipate he slowly lifted his face from the cushion he seemed to have been suffocating himself with and groaned. He rolled onto his side and the old couch he was lying on creaked.

"Oh for goodness sake Ron!" his mother grouched at him as she came bustling into the Weasley family room. "Stop moping!"

Ron knew better than to complain of boredom in front of his mother. She would have instantly tasked him to some menial household chore. She already had that look in her eye. Before she could suggest he help her wash tablecloths or something for Fleur and Bill's wedding, his sister Ginny came into the room and distracted her. "Where are you going?!" his mother screeched.

Ginny looked as if she had been momentarily shocked into silence, before she recovered with the reply, "Um… to Luna's house?"

"Not by yourself, you're not!" said Mrs. Weasley. "What if you get attacked?"

"Mum, do you really think you-know-who is going to attack me? In broad daylight?"

"There are death-eaters all over the place, Ginevra! It's not safe to go wandering off on your own! Especially if your family are blood traitors, and friends of Harry Potter!" Ginny rolled her eyes. Ron knew it was both a combination of exasperation with their mother, and the mention of Harry's name. "Ron can go with you!" His mother finished.

"What?" Ron's lazy slouch instantly turned into an upright position. How did he get dragged into this?

Ginny huffed. "Fine. Hurry up," she said, staring at him.

"But –?" One annoyed look from Ginny and he knew he couldn't even be bothered arguing. "Wait for me then, I just have to go get my shoes on," he said resignedly.

He made his way up to his room as slowly as possible. It wasn't that he didn't like Luna Lovegood. He had actually become quite fond of her and her eccentricity over the past year. He still had the Gurdyroot she had given him, although it was slightly shrivelled now as he had kept it on his windowsill for safekeeping. He just wasn't in the mood for socialising. He wasn't in the mood for much at all.

As he slid his foot into a shoe he thought about Hermione. Hermione and Viktor Krum. The famous Quidditch player was visiting her at her parents' house over the summer. Even Harry and Ron hadn't been to Hermione's house. What the hell made Vikky so special? Ron thrust his other foot into his remaining shoe and stomped off down the stairs.

Ginny didn't say anything as they walked to Luna's and Ron didn't much care. He walked several paces behind her with his eyes following the backs of her feet. Although it wasn't exactly a short walk, they arrived at the house sooner than Ron had expected. His thoughts had been too preoccupied with what Hermione could possible be doing with Krum day in and day out that he hadn't been paying attention to the journey much at all.

They strolled up the footpath of the Lovegood's home and Ginny was just about to knock on the door when a voice behind them startled them both into turning around. There stood Luna.

She was wearing a floral sundress of bright, horribly contrasting colours of orange and green. But other than this her outfit was strangely normal and Ron wondered why this bothered him. For some reason he was disappointed by it. No characteristic radish earrings or butterbeer cork necklaces were in sight. Her hair was braided and she had woven several flowers through it.

"Hi Luna, How are you?" said Ginny. "I like the daisies in your hair."

"They aren't daisies, Ginny. They are flowers from the plant of Dirigible Plums. But thank you all the same." She turned her attention to Ron. "Hello Ronald."

"Hi Luna," Ron replied, smiling politely. He thought about the compliment Ginny had just given her and tried to follow her example, "Um… nice dress."

Luna looked down at her clothing, pulling the hem out in a childlike manner to inspect the fabric. "Thank you, it was my mother's."

Ron blushed. Harry had told him that Luna's mother was dead. Why had he said anything? He hated awkward moments like this. How was he supposed to reply to that? Luckily, as he had been thinking this Luna had walked off and settled down on the grass. Ginny and Ron glanced at each other before Ginny shrugged and followed.

Ron stood for a moment feeling stupid and then went and plopped himself underneath a tree, not far from the two girls who were sitting in the sun. He lay down on his back and looked up at the small glitters of sunlight that were filtering through the leaves.

"I wouldn't sit so close to that tree, Ronald," came Luna's dreamy voice.

He raised his head and looked over at her. "Huh?"

"Oh dear," said Luna. "I think the Wrackspurt must have got him. I knew there were some flying around over there. That tree must be infested."

Ron just rolled his eyes and lay back down. As the two girls began to talk quietly his mind wandered back to Hermione. Ron wondered if she had just invited Krum to her house to get back at him for dating Lavender. It seemed probable, but then again they had felt so close at Dumbledore's funeral and he had been convinced that the making-each-other-jealous thing was behind them. Hermione had corresponded with Krum since the Triwizard Tournament. He knew they had some form of relationship. Maybe they were just really good friends?

Ron was pulled away from his thoughts upon actually hearing Hermione's name spoken. "What did you say?" he asked, sitting up again.

"We were just discussing what Viktor and Hermione could be up to right now!" said Ginny, giggling.

Luna looked at her with interest before turning to Ron. "I thought you were in love with her, Ron. Did you have a fight?"

Ron felt his ears burning up. "What are you talking about?" he said, probably a bit more angrily than he had intended.

Luna didn't seem perturbed. "Oh, you aren't in love with her then?"

He huffed incredulously, and was about to reply 'no' snidely when he realised he didn't actually know if he was in love with her or not. 'No' would have been a lie, yet he wasn't sure if 'yes' was the correct answer either. He looked straight at Luna, whose eyes were bulging slightly the way they always did. But the fact that her eyes were so exposed made them seem more honest. "I'm not sure," Ron answered truthfully.

"Really?" Ginny interrupted. Ron reluctantly moved his gaze away from Luna and looked at his sister. He had forgotten she was even there. "But it's so obvious you do love her, Ron!"

Ron felt a surge of anger at that statement. He frowned at her. "Oh yeah? What makes you such an expert?"

Ginny was instantly on her feet and standing over him with her wand pointed at his nose before he even knew what had happened. "Ginny! What –?"

"Take it back, Ron!"

"Take what back? What the bloody hell are you going on about?" And then he remembered. "Oh." Ginny's eyes filled with tears. She lowered her wand and slumped down beside him. "I didn't mean it like that. Honestly, Ginny."

"I know," she whispered.

The two of them looked up as Luna settled herself next to Ginny and put an arm around her. "I know Harry still loves you a lot," she said quietly, "just not as much as he loves Neville."

Despite himself, Ron had to suppress some laughter. He had always suspected Neville wasn't really into girls, but he had never considered that Harry might be gay. And then to have Harry confess to him that he was seeing Neville! It had been a bit of a shock. He had been angry at first that Harry had broken his sister's heart. But After a few long chats with Harry and quite a lot of spying over his textbooks, Ron had been convinced that what his best friend had with Neville was real.

Harry said that there was a connection between him and Neville that Ron couldn't understand. Which Ron took offence to at first, thinking it was a jab at his unsuccessful and inexperienced love life, but Harry had assured him it wasn't that. Neville and Harry had so many similar (but not equal) life experiences, similar feelings of not belonging and, Ron guessed, some other type of special bond that they kept secret.

As he watched them innocently squeeze hands before shuffling off to their separate beds in the boys dormitory, Ron wasn't insensitive (as Hermione liked to point out he was at every opportunity) enough to not realise that Harry was right. Just to get a glimpse of their relationship was enough to make Ron see that what they had was obviously really powerful. It also made him feel a bit jealous and he wondered if Hermione would ever be able to understand him like that.

Deep down he knew she couldn't. Maybe that was why he couldn't admit to being in love with her?

Ron contemplated this dilemma over the next few days, becoming increasingly more unbearable to live with for the rest of the Weasleys. Whenever anyone approached him he would just grunt at them feeling very annoyed at having his thoughts disturbed.

It was only when he noticed Ginny tying the shoelaces of her trainers one afternoon obviously getting ready to go somewhere, that his mood brightened. Their mother was in Diagon Alley getting wedding supplies and Ron could tell Ginny was using the opportunity to try and sneak out of the house unnoticed. "Where are you going?" he asked curiously from her doorway.

"None of your business."

"I'm sure mum would disagree with that."

Ginny scowled at him. "I'm going to Luna's. Is that a crime?"

"Can I come?"

Ginny seemed surprised to hear this odd request of Ron's. He knew it probably seemed strange, given he had never shown an interest in visiting Luna before. Ginny gazed at him sceptically before saying, "I suppose."

Ron grinned and ran to get his shoes on also. The truth was, even though Luna was an oddball, Ron felt peculiarly secure in her presence. He didn't have to constantly worry about appearing a dunce in front of her. He didn't have to worry about his looks. And even when she pointed out things about him that he didn't think he had made so obvious, he didn't resent her for saying them. In fact, despite not liking it, he felt he sometimes needed her to say them. Because it made him think.

It was because of her that he had been revaluating his feelings for Hermione, and although he hadn't made much progress, he thought Luna might be able to help him out.

"Oh hello," Luna said when she answered the door to her home. She left the door open and walked back into the house. Ron and Ginny took this as a sign to follow. They stepped into the circular kitchen and Ron closed the door behind him. "I'm glad you're here," said Luna, "I need to study your faces."

"You need to what?" asked Ron. She just smiled at him and began walking up the stairs. The other two followed.

"Where's your dad?" asked Ginny.

"Oh he had to go and see somebody about a very important story. Someone sighted a Crumple-horned Snorkack right in the middle of London! Daddy wants to publish the article at once."

Ron smiled. He actually wondered if Crumple-horned Snorkacks were real. Hermione was always adamant that they were an invention of the Lovegood's, but why was what she said gospel? She couldn't prove they weren't real, could she? Ron knew Hermione would be scandalised that he was even entertaining the idea that Crumple-horned Snorkacks existed but he didn't care. It wasn't up to Hermione to decide what he believed in.

The three of them climbed up a spiral staircase into what appeared to be Luna's bedroom. "Sit down," she said, indicating that they should sit on her bed. Ron felt weird about this. The only girls' beds he had sat on before were his mother's and Ginny's. This was even the first time he had been into another girl's bedroom. He shook his head and told himself he was being ridiculous. It was only Loony Lovegood's bedroom. She hardly counted, right?

"Sit still," she told them as she began stirring up a jar of paint.

"Why?" Ron asked. He was getting suspicious.

"So I can paint you of course."

"Why do you want to paint us, Luna?" Ginny asked before Ron could butt in.

"Well, I've already done Harry and Neville. Now I just have to do you and Ronald. And Hermione, I suppose," she said serenely. She began pulling a ladder that had been behind the door into the centre of the room.

At the sight of the ladder and the obvious reason for it Ron looked up and finally realised what she was talking about. There on the ceiling two faces were painted. One of them Harry's, one of them Neville's. They were extremely realistic, and they seemed to be sharing a sort of secret smile. It made Ron's chest feel funny. He really missed them both.

"Wow Luna," he whispered. "Those are… amazing. You're really talented!"

She smiled down at him from her perch on the ladder (which did not look very safe at all). "Yes, I quite like them," she said simply. "I think I will do you first Ginny."

"What?" asked Ginny, finally speaking. "Oh, okay…" She was staring up at the paintings in awe. Ron wondered if maybe she was at last seeing what Ron had. She was seeing what Harry and Neville had together.

Ginny and Ron sat for over two hours watching Luna paint. And during that time not a single one of them spoke. But the silence wasn't at all uncomfortable. Ron found he was quite mesmerised by watching Luna work. Her protuberant eyes shining, her hair flowing around her face and over her shoulders, and her elegant fingers making the thin paintbrush dance. She didn't show any signs that she even noticed the two redheads in the room but for the very occasional glance down to investigate Ginny's features. Ron wondered when Loony Lovegood had become so beautiful.

"There," concluded Luna with one last stroke of the brush.

"It's like looking in a mirror!" said Ginny. "That's really good, Luna!"

"Yeah," agreed Ron. He paused. "It looks so natural," he added, hoping it was sufficiently flattering.

"Thank you, Ronald! Daddy should be home soon though, so I can't do you today. Would you mind coming round tomorrow?"

"Sure," he replied, unintentionally eager.

She smiled again. But it wasn't the dreamy sort of smile she usually gave. It was the kind of smile that showed her teeth. Ron couldn't remember ever seeing her smile like that before. She looked very pretty.

It was only when Ron arrived back at The Burrow, and after he and Ginny had had their ears chewed off by their mother who had been appalled to arrived home from Diagon Alley to find them missing, that he realised he hadn't thought about Hermione for almost the whole afternoon.

The next day, the rest of the Weasley family had been very shocked when Ron had bustled into the room for breakfast bright and cheery.

"What happened to you?" Bill asked looking perplexed.

Ginny on the other hand smirked at him knowingly. "Perhaps Ronald has realised he isn't in love with Hermione."

The rest of the family looked at her as if she had lost her mind. Ron on the other hand felt his whole face flush. "What are you on about?" he said in a not very convincing attempt at naivety. He shovelled some eggs into his mouth, trying to act as unconcerned with her comment as possible.

What she had said stuck with him though. He worried about it all morning. And all he could do was panic at the thought that she was right. Over the past week, his feelings for Hermione had diminished. But just because he knew that he wasn't exactly in love with her didn't mean he didn't have strong feelings for her… She was all he had ever known, when it came to caring for a girl as more than a friend. Lavender hardly counted. He had really only gone out with her because he had felt inadequate and embarrassed (thanks to Ginny) about never having kissed a girl before, and lavender had been willing to change that. It had also been a reaction to discovering that Hermione had kissed Krum.

It always came back to Hermione. And the thought of letting that go was scary.

After lunch he made his way over to Luna's. Alone. Their mother had insisted Ginny stay behind and help her with wedding preparations. Ginny had not been impressed, stomping around the house muttering something about 'bloody phlegm' and 'bat-bogey hex'.

For the first time, Ron felt nervous about going to Luna's. And it had nothing to do with the fact that he was walking there by himself. Buy the time he reached the Lovegood's house his stomach was flip flopping like crazy. He told himself it was because he had walked too far too soon after eating.

This time Luna was wearing both her butterbeer cork necklace and her radish earrings. The familiar sight of them calmed Ron's nerves somewhat. It was just Luna. Nothing bad was going to happen to him. When he was in her presence, he felt like he could trust her more than anyone else in the world.

This time her father was there and was leaning concernedly over what was apparently an old printing press. Luna introduced them but Xenophilius Lovegood merely waved at Ron and then went back to inspecting the machine.

Luna lead Ron up to her room, and Ron felt even weirder than last time. Her dad was comfortable with her just taking a boy up to her room? He didn't mind that they were alone together? It seemed that Ron was more concerned about it than either of the Lovegood's. Once again, he sat down gingerly on Luna's bed.

Luna hummed to herself as she busied herself in her artwork. Again, she didn't seem inclined to converse at all. Ron thought it was going to be the most excruciating afternoon of his life but after awhile he was once again engrossed in watching Luna paint. He didn't even care to watch the progress of his own face appear on the ceiling.

Only when she had announced that she had finished did she look at it. He was impressed. He stood up to inspect it better. It looked just like him. And he didn't think he was being vain when he noticed that the painting of him was probably the best one out of all of them.

"Do you like it?" she asked. She hadn't asked Ginny this.

"Yes," Ron breathed. He couldn't even try and be modest by saying something witty about it being an alright painting for a face like his. All he could do was stare at himself. Luna climbed down the ladder and stood beside him, mimicking his craned neck as he admired the artwork. Then she spoke, "I think it's my favourite."

Ron looked over at her, suddenly aware of her arm pressed against his. And the most unusual sensation swept though his body. He had the urge to kiss her. It was so strong but it didn't feel like it had arrived out of the blue. It was like the emotions had been inside him all along, but they had been hiding and now some spell had been cast to make them all reveal themselves.

He wanted nothing more than to kiss her, but he couldn't do it. He jerked his head away and coughed awkwardly. Luna didn't seem to notice. She just casually asked him if he had inhaled a Nargle dropping and then invited him to come by again the next day.

"Why?" he asked. "You've finished my face haven't you?"

"Oh yes, but I need help with Hermione. You don't have any photographs of her do you?"

Ron's heart sank. Why did she have to mention Hermione? He felt tortured. But Luna was looking at him so earnestly. She very clearly had no idea that her mentioning Hermione's name was agony for him. He was sure Luna wanted his help in reproducing Hermione's face because she believed he was in love with her.

"Will you help me, Ron?"

He looked down at her and nodded. Wondering why he was no longer 'Ronald'.

Ron lay in bed wondering… maybe it really wasn't Hermione he wanted. But he didn't really have feelings for Luna, did he? How was that possible? No-one falls for Luna… Why did he have the worst taste in women? He didn't think he was going to ever fall asleep…

What if when he saw Hermione again, all his feelings for her came back? And what about the fact that she and him were going to go with Harry to find the horcruxes? They were going to be together constantly. And that was another thing. Why was he worrying about this when there were more important things going on around him? Why did girls have to complicate everything? It would be so much easier if he could just focus on helping Harry.

But thinking about making things easier… wouldn't it be easier if he was in love with Hermione? It would certainly be easier than if he was in love with Luna. Who knew how long he would be away from her? What if she found someone? Not that it should matter to Ron if she did. There was nothing to say that she even had feelings for him…

Ron was confusing himself even more. If he was thinking all of these things about Luna… he was sure they must mean that he really liked her. Even if he didn't… Even if they could never be together. He decided it was enough evidence for him to finally see that the feelings he had felt for Hermione, for such a long time, were over.

Ron got hardly any sleep that night, but the next day as he handed over the picture of Hermione, he knew that lack of sleep was not the reason he felt so awful.

"Thank you, Ronald. Would you like to stay and watch me paint?"

Ron did want to stay. But probably not for the reasons Luna thought. She probably thought he wanted to see the painting of Hermione. But he really wanted to stay so that he could just watch Luna. He nodded anyway and miserably took a seat on her bed. After a while he released a huge yawn. He hadn't really noticed he had done it as he was so engrossed in Luna, but she noticed.

"Would you like to lie down and rest?" she asked.

Ron stared at her with wide eyes. "On your bed?"

"Oh, would you prefer the floor?" She wasn't even being sarcastic, that was just Luna. She was dead serious. She wanted Ron to lie on her bed.

"Oh, no!" Ron spluttered. "Um, okay. I'll lie down." He slid his shoes off and gently turned around and lay down, resting his head on her soft pillow. Ron suddenly realised what a private thing a pillow was. He could smell Luna on it. He had to resist the urge to roll over and bury his face in it. He couldn't remember ever smelling anything so wonderful, including his mother's cooking.

"Do you think it looks like her?" Luna asked.

"Uh –" Ron's voice caught in his throat and he coughed to clear it. He looked at the painting with which Luna was pointing. It did look very much like Hermione. But Ron didn't feel any sort of thrill at this fact. "Yes. It looks just like her, you're really good."

She smiled down at him in a way that now felt so familiar. Did the girl ever frown? "Can I ask you something, Ronald?"

He wasn't sure if it was going to be a question about Nargles or a question about something deeply profound but he knew there was no way he could resist anything she asked of him. "Yeah?"

"Well, I was just wondering if you know whether you are in love with Hermione Granger yet. Because today I have decided that I don't think you are."

Ron froze a little, but when he spoke his voice was clear, "How do you know?"

She shrugged. "Just a feeling."

"Oh. Well… you're right."

She nodded slowly. "How does it feel?"

Ron frowned. "How does it feel to not love her?" It was such a strange question, yet it was something he could answer. Maybe he would only be able to answer questions like that when Luna asked them. He would never know, because she was the only person who would ask questions like that. He replied, "Scary, I guess."

Luna's moonstone eyes stared at him, as if she could see inside him. "I understand," she said. And Ron believed that she really did.

The next day, Ron visited Luna again. And again without Ginny, who didn't appear to be under the orders of their mother to stay behind, but had looked at Ron sort of devilishly and said she thought he would have more fun if she wasn't there. Ron was really starting to wonder if he was the most readable person to walk the face of the earth, but decided that if it meant spending time with Luna alone then he was okay with that.

Luna was linking the five painted faces together with the word 'friends' with a gold pen, over and over again. "You can lie down on my bed again if you like," she told him. And even though he wasn't tired, he did. Because he loved her pillow so much.

As he watched her work on the ceiling, he realised something. "How come you didn't paint your own face?"

She stopped what she was doing and looked at him, for the first time without a dreamy smile. "I didn't want to paint myself," she replied simply.

"But you're friends with all of us too," Ron said leaning up on his elbows.

Her eyes twinkled, "Thank you, Ronald."

Ron shifted, abruptly uncomfortable under her gaze. "Um, you're welcome. Do you want me to help you do that?"

"If you like." She handed him a gold pen. He pulled over the stool from her desk and stood on it. It wasn't that tall but with Ron's height he could reach the ceiling comfortably. They worked silently for about half an hour until Luna declared her arm was getting sore and she needed a rest.

She hopped of the ladder and sat down on her bed. Ron knew it was okay to do the same. They sat very close to one another. Ron could feel Luna's shoulder pressing into his arm. She looked up at him and her eyes reflected their friends' faces from the ceiling.

Ron had been fairly certain that the sudden urge to kiss Luna would attack him again that day and he was right. But when it happened he didn't fight it. He leaned over and lightly planted a kiss on her sweet, delicate and unsuspecting lips.

"That was nice," she said once he had pulled away.

Ron wanted to laugh. He wanted to grin like an idiot and exclaim how this had to be the weirdest thing that had ever happened to him but he didn't care because it felt amazing. But he didn't do any of those things because there was something he had to say first.

"I'm going away. With Harry and Hermione. After my brother's wedding. There's something we have to do and I don't know how long it will take, it could be years." Luna nodded. "But I'll come back!" Ron continued. "I want to be with you, I swear I'll come back. We can be together when it's over, I promise."

He watched to see how she would react, but she just continued to look at him with what he could only describe as purest understanding. He knew he couldn't offer her anything infinite, and he knew that she probably didn't mind, but he was so overwhelmed with affection for her that he pushed away his own feelings. "But… if you meet someone… I want you to… you know… don't wait for me or anything…" He was trying to be noble. It was the kind of thing Harry would say, except he would do it with a lot more eloquence. But Ron did mean what he said. He just wanted her to be happy.

"I don't expect that will happen. I don't think I will have to wait very long for you to return," she replied happily.

"What do you mean?"

"I know you can do it. I believe in you."

A/N: This was my first Harry Potter fic. I would luv some feedback ;) thanks for reading XDXD