Hermione's Surprise

Ron stepped out of the fireplace to see Luna laughing while Harry looked at her in shock.

“Do I want to know what I’ve missed?” he asked, looking at his best friend.

“Hermione visited Grimmauld Place and Luna said she’s in love with me,” Harry blurted out before paling.

Ron blinked. “Huh, that explains why she never gave me a second look.”

“Ron—” Harry started to say as Luna stopped laughing but Ron just waved him off.

“It’s alright, Harry. Since she left I’ve had time to think and reflect and honestly, she and I never would have worked. The adventures the three of us ended up on meant that we had very few people that could relate to what we were going through and really, her attitude would have driven me insane eventually,” Ron said, taking a seat on the armchair facing the married couple on the couch.

Harry snorted. “That’s true, most people didn’t have to grow up with our brand of crazy. Actually only I would have—”

“If you finish that sentence I will hex you, Harry Potter!” Ron said, cutting his friend off.

“But—”

“Nah, mate. None of us should have had to deal with the crazy events during Hogwarts. Just because you kept getting roped into them doesn’t mean that you should have had to deal with them either.”

“He’s right, Harry,” Luna said, taking Harry’s hand and Ron could see the moment Harry gave in.  

“I guess. It doesn’t change the fact that you got pulled into things with me.”

Ron got up and moved to squeeze in next to Harry, throwing an arm around his shoulders as Luna hugged him from the other side.

“Harry, you’re my best friend, my non-redhead brother, I would have supported you not matter what. Yes, I was an idiot during the years, especially our fourth year, but I’ve always got your back. You’re an honorary Weasley, and there are enough of us to plan a kidnapping and intervention if needed.”

Ron smiled at the laugh that got out of Harry. After Hermione left, Ron had gone home and spent time around his family. Almost losing Fred had given them all a scare and even Percy came home to check in on them. Overall, the Weasley family was a lot closer than they had been for a few years. The marriage between Harry and Luna had shocked a few people, mainly his mum and Ginny who had been sure that Ginny would eventually become Mrs Potter, but they’d come around. Ginny had taken longer but after some time she realised that she loved the idea of being married to Harry Potter the boy from the stories and that she saw Harry as another brother. She’d ended up agreeing to a date with Dean after he’d seen one of the wedding photos where Ginny was happily smiling in the background as Harry and Luna kissed.

“So what brings my youngest brother-in-law around for a visit?” Luna asked, making Ron tear up a bit while smiling brightly at being called her brother-in-law before he registered the whole question.

Ron groaned. “Mum was driving me spare!”

Luna and Harry laughed while Ron pouted. “Gee, thanks for the support you two.”

“What was it this time? School? What you’re going to do with your life?” Harry asked, a teasing grin on his face.

“When you’re going to settle down and give her grandkids?” Luna added, a cheeky grin on her face.

“You two are the worst!”

Luna and Harry started laughing again before Ron joined in. After a few minutes they stopped and relaxed back on the couch. Ron’s arm still around Harry shoulder while Harry’s arm was around Luna’s waist. Luna was now sitting on Harry’s lap with her legs resting on Ron’s thighs.

“Mum was asking me if I’ve decided what to do, if I want to go back to Hogwarts or see about finding a job. I thought I wanted to be an auror, and who knows maybe later I will, but right now I want a break. After everything in school I don’t want to keep fighting, but with the decisions I made in school regarding my classes there’s not a lot of options at the moment without throwing names around and I don’t really want to do that. Mum’s not pushing, after the scare with Fred she’s not as pushy about us doing what she wants or what she thinks is best and she’s being really supportive of whatever we want to do. It’s weird, but nice,” Ron admitted.

“Problem is that you don’t know what to do?” Harry asked, making Ron nod in response.

“I do know that I want to have what you and Luna have, that kind of love is special and I want that. For a while I thought I might have that with Hermione but the reality is that it never would have worked out for so many reasons, not including the fact that she’s in love with you.”

Ron chuckled as Harry grumbled about never thinking of her as anything more than a friend before continuing. “But I think the biggest issue we would have had is because I’m not the idiot she thinks I am or the idiot she sometimes treats me as. I don’t think it would have taken long for me to start resenting her and her attitude, there have certainly been times in the past when her stubbornness and know-it-all attitude have annoyed me but it was easier to give in than try and point out why she was wrong.”

“I think she forgets that we all have our strengths and weaknesses and despite what she may believe about herself, she has weaknesses just like everyone else. Her inability to acknowledge them makes it worse. No one is without weaknesses, but if you can identify them you can do something about it.”

“Luna’s right. Hermione also seems to forget that at the age of eleven you took on a game of giant wizard’s chess and won. That wasn’t luck, that was pure strategic skill and it’s not something she would have been able to do then or now. Granted, you sacrificed yourself so we could win the game which wasn’t the smartest move from a personal health and safety point of view but it was still a good game,” Harry teased, knocking his shoulder against Ron’s as Ron chuckled.

“Why not use that?” Luna asked.

“Huh?” Ron and Harry asked in unison, making Luna roll her eyes at them.

“Ron, you’ve got very good strategic skills. Why not talk to the twins about using that to create some games for the shop? Between the three of you I’m sure you’ll come up with some great games.” Luna suggested.

“Or even see if any quidditch teams are looking for someone to create new game plays? Does the wizarding world have chess tournaments like the muggle world? If not, maybe that’s something you could see about doing, or even joining the muggle world tournaments. I think there are people who live off the winnings they make in those games.” Harry added.

Ron paused and thought about the suggestions before nodding. “Those aren’t bad ideas. I might talk to the twins to start off with, maybe even help out in the shop if they’ll let me while I look into different options and decide what to do.”

“There’s still plenty of time to make your decisions and even then if you don’t like the decision you’ve made you can always change your mind.” Harry shrugged.

“Except if you want to go back to Hogwarts, the new school year is starting soon so that decision would need to be made now.” Luna pointed out.

“Yeah I don’t think that’s going to be happening. I feel too old for school, if you know what I mean.”

Both Harry and Luna nodded. “Luna considered going back for her final year, but the thought never crossed my mind. We’re going to self-study and do our NEWTs throughout the year. There’s no deadline to when we can do them so we’ll take them when each of us feels confident that we’ll pass. Having said that, I already sat my DADA NEWT and got an O.” Harry admitted.

“And I’ll be sitting some of mine over the next few months as well,” Luna added.

Ron sighed. “Maybe I should look into doing that too.”

“The option is there and we’ll support you whatever you decide, whether that’s to help you study or brainstorm job ideas,” Harry smiled over at him and Ron returned the smile.

“And I’m sure if you finally get a girlfriend you’ll be able to distract Molly from nagging you about your NEWTs, giving you even more time to make a decision,” Luna said, a teasing smile on her face.

“Luna!” Ron exclaimed before dropping his head in his hands while Harry and Luna laughed.