"Why not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is?" Frank Scully.

"Luna," Ron said, struggling hard not to laugh, "I really don't think Dai Llewellyn's death was a conspiracy by the Ministry and his jealous opponents. That's—that's just not possible."

"Why not?" Luna asked, looking up at him.

Ron was thrown, and sputtered, "Everyone knows he was eaten by a Chimera—"

"But what if that Chimera had been sent there on purpose?" Luna asked. "My father plans on asking that very question in the next issue of the Quibbler. He's gathered a lot of evidence."

Knowing exactly what kind of evidence the Quibbler presented, Ron wanted to say something, but he held his tongue and simply grinned. "Can't wait for that issue then."

Luna beamed at him. "Good," she said.

"So, are you coming to the next D.A meeting? Professor Lupin's going to be in charge of it now, along with Harry."

Luna smiled gently. "It'll be good for him."

"Which one?"

"Both of them, of course."

Ron grinned down at her. "Exactly what I thought," he said happily. "Besides, Snape is going to hate it."

Ron stared, horrified, at his essay. "This isn't fair."

Harry rolled his eyes and said in a monotone, "Oh, gee, Ron, Snape didn't grade your essay fairly? What a shock! It's really not like him, because he's always been so nice to us Gryffindors."

Ron glared at him. "Oh, shut it." He waved his paper around in fury. "This is a masterpiece! It's got bloody footnotes, for Merlin's sake!"

Hermione sat down next to him. "What are you bellowing about, Ron?" she asked. "And don't swear," she added absently.

Harry grinned. "Ron got a bad grade on his Potions essay."

"Footnotes," Ron snarled. "I had bleedin' footnotes." His voice rose an octave. "Footnotes, Hermione! I never have footnotes!"

"I know," Hermione said dryly. "I'm the one who who's been telling you to put them in your essays for ages, remember?"

"And look what happened!" Ron roared.

Harry and Hermione shared a look. "Ron," Harry said, "Snape's probably just in a really bad mood because Remus is coming back to Hogwarts."

"Still not fair," he muttered, then realized something. "Wait...you're calling Lupin by his first name?"

Harry shrugged. "Didn't seem like it made much sense to call him Professor Lupin anymore..." his voice trailed off. "Does he have to do that?"

Ron looked to where his sister was laughing with Dean Thomas. As they watched, Ginny curled up against Dean's side and leaned her head against her shoulder. "What?"

"I mean...it's weird," Harry insisted. "Isn't it weird, Ron?"

Ron shrugged. "Not really. It's gross, but not that weird. He's her boyfriend. They're going to snuggle. It's disgusting, but expected."

"Oh, like you don't snuggle with Luna," Hermione shot back.

"For the record, Luna and I do not snuggle," Ron said in a tone of superiority. "Our relationship goes beyond that." Hermione looked slightly grossed out by the thought.

"I still think it's weird," Harry muttered, stabbing his food with a fork.

Ron sighed. "Harry, she's fifteen. Mum said we're just going to have to deal with this."

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "You talked to your mum about this?"

Ron glowered. "No, she talked at us. Stupid Charlie."

"What'd he do?" Harry asked.

Ron could feel himself blushing. Damn Ginny for not telling him how she stopped doing that. "I...er...might have mentioned something in my letter to Charlie."

"And that something was?" Hermione asked with a very superior, knowing smile. Ron blushed even harder.

"Well...Ginny's his sister too, and I thought he'd be interested to know that she had broken up with Corner," Ron said, and sighed in aggravation. "How was I supposed to know Charlie was going to send Corner a Howler?"

Harry started laughing. "Oh God, Ron," he gasped out between laughs, "tell me you're kidding." Hermione had lost the superior look and was just giggling. Ron grinned too. In retrospect, it was amusing, although he certainly hadn't thought so at the time. Back then, his knees had been shaking and he'd been desperately praying that Ginny wouldn't come after him.

"So, of course, Corner writes Ginny, asking about her psychotic brother who's just sent him a Howler and threatened to set his hoard of dragons after him, and after Mum and Dad managed to stop Ginny from chasing Charlie around with the frying pan, we had a family meeting." Ron frowned. "I don't see why, though. It wasn't like I told Charlie to send a Howler or anything like that."

Harry was almost wheezing by this point. "Oy, Harry!" Seamus called out. "You all right there?"

Harry tried to speak, couldn't, and settled for waving his hand at Seamus. "I'm sorry," he gasped, "but the thought of Charlie being terrorized by your sister when he faces dragons every day..."

Ron grinned. "Clearly you've never seen Ginny when she's really ticked off. Think of my mum, only younger."

Harry chuckled. "I almost wish I'd been there," he said wistfully. "But then, I think I'd be too afraid that your sister would start to take things out on me."

"How is it going, Ron?" Professor Lupin asked as he strolled over.

Ron grinned, slightly out of breath. "Good," he said. "Wish I could practice against some real Dementors, though," he said, and roared for the fifth time, "Expecto Patronum!" And instead of an undefined shape, a lion burst out of Ron's wand, roaring and stamping its foot.

Ron stared, flummoxed. "That's the first time that's ever happened," he mumbled in shock.

Luna beamed at him. "Excellent, Ron."

"Yes," Lupin said, although he was frowning slightly. "Yes, that's very good..."

Ron grinned. "And it's a lion too," he said in relief. He'd been rather worried that his Patronus would turn out to be something stupid, like say, a poodle. Lions were so much cooler.

"Ginny?" Lupin called out. "Would you come here for a second?"

Ginny came over from where she was practicing with Dean. "What is it?" she asked.

"Ginny," Lupin asked, "what form does your Patronus take?"

Ginny wasted no time in replying. "A lion," she said promptly, pointing at Ron's Patronus, who was now swishing its tail and looking at them calmly. "It looked just like that too."

"Is that bad?" Luna asked.

Lupin shook his head, but he still seemed a bit perturbed. "No, no," he said. "It's not bad...just rather unusual."

"Why?" Ron said. "After all, we're related. Besides, Dad's Patronus is a lion."

"So's Bill's," Ginny added. "And Charlie's."

Lupin looked more surprised than ever. "Are you two telling me that your entire family has the same Patronus?"

Ron shrugged. "Well, I don't know about the twins...or Percy," he added. "Is that--unusual?"

"Not so much unusual," Lupin said, "as much as it is impossible. Ron, that's not supposed to happen." He frowned again. "If you don't mind, I'd like to talk to Professor Dumbledore about this. I've never heard of so many family members sharing the same Patronus."

Ron and Ginny looked at each other and shrugged. "Fine by me," Ginny said.

"Yeah," Ron agreed, "Same here."

After the D.A meeting, Ron decided to walk with Luna back to Ravenclaw.

"Ron, I was reading the tea leaves yesterday..."

'Uh huh," Ron said, waiting to see where Luna was going with this.

"...and they were talking to me, as usual, and they asked me a very important question."

Ron grinned. "Which was?" he asked, humoring her.

"Why haven't we kissed yet?"

Ron immediately tripped over his own feet. He stood up quickly and backed away a little. "What?"

Luna looked at him, serene as always. And usually Ron found her serenity soothing or relaxing, but right now he was slightly annoyed by it. Really, Luna was absolutely impossible to read. He could never tell if she was angry or upset or sad...with Hermione, at least you knew how she was feeling most of the time. It was the reasons behind her feelings that were a complete mystery.

Ron mentally kicked himself. Now was not the time to think about Hermione, much less compare her to Luna. "I thought...I thought we weren't going to label it. This."

"Don't you want to kiss me?" Luna asked.

Ron's mouth hung open. "Of course I...wait. This...we're not supposed to be complicated. And...if we kiss...doesn't it make things complicated?"

"Why should it?" Luna asked.

Ron's mouth fell open again. "So...kissing doesn't complicate things?"

'Not if we don't let it," Luna reassured him, stepping closer. Ron gulped and stepped closer too.

"I—"

You like her, so kiss her. It doesn't have to be complicated. Not unless you make it.

And so he did. And she kissed him back.

It was...nice. Terrifying, but still. Nice. Ron's legs were feeling a bit shaky, and he had absolutely no idea where to put his hands at first. But Luna's hands were on his shoulders, her lips on his, and after a while, Ron forgot to think about anything at all.

When they finally stopped, Luna gave him a slow, dreamy smile. "That was nice," she said. "You're a very good kisser, you know."

Ron let out a shaky laugh. "Actually, I didn't know that. That was...well, it—could you tell I hadn't done it before?" he asked nervously. Sure he was new at this, but that didn't mean he wanted it to show.

"No. I haven't either."

"So...that was your—"

"Yes."

"Oh," Ron said, relieved that Luna was at the same level of experience he was. "I couldn't tell either," he reassured her.

She laughed softly and stepped back, taking his hand. "The tea leaves were right," she commented as they continued on their walk.

"Yeah," Ron agreed, frowning as a thought occurred to him. "Wait. If we're kissing, does that mean we're dating?"

"Do you want to?"

Ron's forehead furrowed. He liked Luna, liked hanging out with her, definitely liked kissing her, and didn't want other blokes kissing her. "Yeah," he said finally. "Do you? Want to be dating, that is?"

Luna nodded. "Yes."

"All right then," Ron said, slightly stunned. "We're...dating." A slow smile spread across his face. He was a boyfriend. He had a girlfriend. As in, if he wanted to introduce Luna to anyone, he'd say, "This is my girlfriend, Luna."

Ron was actually one half of a couple.

Wow.

Ron sat down slowly on his bed. "Wow," he mumbled. Really, Ron's luck was improving drastically these days. He was on the Quidditch team, things were going great with his friends, his grades were good, and he had a girlfriend and had just received his first kiss.

"What is it?" Harry asked, distracted.

"I snogged Luna," Ron told him. "Or she snogged me...whichever. We snogged. And we're dating. Officially."

Harry sat up, his eyes wide. "No way."

"Way," Ron said, grinning. Harry looked impressed at this, which just increased Ron's sense of general well-being.

"How was it?"

Ron's grin grew bigger. "Brilliant," he said. What had he been so worried about? All he'd really had to do was relax and enjoy it...Ron's grin grew rather wolfish. And he definitely had enjoyed it.

"She wasn't crying, was she?" Harry asked.

"No," Ron said. "I'm not that bad a kisser,' he added, giving Harry a small dig.

Harry threw a pillow at his head. "Thanks a lot," he muttered. "So...you and Luna are official. Congratulations."

"What's going on?" Seamus asked as he, Dean, and Neville walked in.

"Ron's officially off the market, that's what," Harry said. "He and Luna are going out."

"Weren't you going out before?" Neville asked.

"We were hanging out before," Ron explained. "But we're dating now."

Dean frowned. "What's the difference?"

Ron shrugged. "No idea. Ask Luna. Or Ginny. She's Luna's best friend, she'd get it."

"Wait, wait," Neville said. "You're her boyfriend, now, so...shouldn't you understand what's going on in her brain?"

"Neville," Ron said wearily, "I don't know what's going on in anybody's brain. Much less the female brain. Six years of being friends with Hermione and she's still a total mystery."

"True," Harry agreed, grinning. "Very true."

"So," Seamus said, looking up from a Quidditch magazine, "you've given up on Hermione, then?"

Ron choked. In as normal a voice as he could manage, "Hermione? What—I don't—Hermione?" He stole a glance at Harry, who looked mildly bewildered.

"What's Hermione got to do with anything?" Harry asked.

Seamus laughed, and Ron glared at him, silently willing the big-mouthed git to shut up. "Harry, mate, you really haven't noticed, have you?"

"Noticed what?"

"Noticed," Seamus said in a tone of exaggerated patience, "that our Ron here has been fancying Hermione for ages."

Ron winced, closed his eyes. He should've known this was going to come out, sooner or later.

"Ron likes Hermione?" Harry asked, sounding completely shocked. Dean and Neville had stopped their respective activities and were watching curiously. "Wait a minute," Harry said, standing up and staring at Ron. "Wait just a minute. You...like Hermione?"

Ron fidgeted. "Well..."

Harry's eyes became enormous and his jaw dropped. Ron was rather alarmed, as he had never seen anyone's eyes become that big. For a second, Ron had wondered if Harry could possibly be doing an impression of a house-elf, his eyes were that big.

"Now, mate, it isn't that big a deal," Seamus stared, trying to fix the mess he'd created. But judging from the look on Harry's face and the way his eyebrows were rushing together, Seamus's attempts weren't going to do anything. "You like Hermione," Harry said, standing up, "and you never told me?"

Ron, by this point, was quickly approaching a feeling commonly known as terror. A yelling Harry was bad enough, but a yelling Harry who was mad at him—it was absolutely terrifying.

Neville edged towards the door. "Maybe I should get Ginny—" he started nervously.

"Please do," Ron croaked.

"What's Ginny got to do with anything?" Dean asked, and Ron bristled at the tone before remembering that Ginny was in fact, Dean's girlfriend.

Neville gestured at Harry. "You know she's the only one who can handle Harry when he's like—this."

"Like what?" Harry demanded, annoyed, and Neville gulped.

Seamus approached Harry cautiously. "Maybe we should all just calm down—"

"I am calm!"

"—and just listen to what Ron has to say," Seamus finished.

And all of them stared at Ron, waiting for him to deliver the goods. Oh, bugger.

"You see, it's like this," Ron started, and had no idea of how to continue.

"Like what?" Harry grumbled. "Like you've been hiding something from me for ages?"

"I dunno," Ron mumbled. "I thought you'd be upset or whatever, and it didn't seem like such a big idea since...you know..." he trailed off uncomfortably.

"Since what?" Neville asked.

Ron sighed. "Since Hermione never felt the same way," he said quietly. It was hard admitting that out loud, but it was the truth. "So I reckoned there was really no point in ruining a good friendship over something I was bound to get over eventually."

"So you are definitely over Hermione, then?" Harry asked, and Ron was relieved to see that he no longer seemed angry.

He considered. "I guess I just...took a leaf out of Ginny's book and decided to get over it. What's the point of fancying someone who's never going to feel the same way? And now there's Luna...so, yeah. I reckon I am over her." Something about that bothered Ron a little bit. He couldn't put his finger on it, but it...something about that was wrong. But he couldn't figure out what. He was over Hermione, and he was dating Luna.

Harry nodded. "You still should've told me, though."

"Yeah, probably," Ron agreed. "It was just...weird. By the time I'd got it all worked out, you were having such a rotten time...didn't want to burden you."

"So, everything's settled then," Dean asked. "Ron's explained everything, Harry isn't going to fly off the handle now..."

"I wasn't going to fly off the handle anyway," Harry objected.

"Yeah, sure, Harry," Dean said, not believing it. "Have to say, Ron, I thought there might be something going on." He paused. "Sure she doesn't feel the same?"

"Positive," Ron said darkly. "We drive each other insane, anyway. Half the time we're together, we're arguing."

"Half the time?" Seamus joked.

"It's for the best, anyhow," Ron concluded. "She's writing letters to Krum, I'm dating Luna...it's over."

And there it was.

"So, big Quidditch game today," Seamus commented at the Gryffindor table during breakfast on Saturday. "My bet's on Hufflepuff. Chang's game has been off for ages. What do you think, Katie?"

Katie swallowed her food and replied, "I'm for whatever team we can beat in the end."

Ron laughed, and Seamus turned to him, "Suppose you'll be supporting Ravenclaw, mate?"

"You'd be right," Ron said, spearing his sausage with the fork.

"Oh, and why's that?" Katie asked.

Ron shrugged. "My girlfriend's in Ravenclaw, what do you expect me to do?" He was rather pleased at how...natural this all seemed.

Ginny, sitting next to him, choked on her juice. "Wait, Luna's your girlfriend?" she asked after she'd recovered. "Since when?"

"Since a few days ago," Ron replied, then got a sinking feeling as he realized.

Hermione. Bugger.

Afraid but not knowing why, he glanced at her. Hermione was staring firmly at her plate, and if it weren't for the stiffness of her shoulders, Ron wouldn't have guessed that she'd heard. She looked up finally, and her gaze was steady. "So, you're dating Luna. Congratulations."

Ron felt very strange. Like he had separated from his body, and was watching someone else with his face say, "Thanks," He didn't feel...quite there, somehow.

It didn't feel like it was Ron handling the queries from Lavender and Parvati. It didn't feel like him shyly asking Harry and Hermione whether it'd be all right with them if Luna sat with them during the game. It didn't feel like he was the one blushing as Parvati and Lavender agreed that he and Luna had been putting this off for too long.

But the lurch in his stomach as Hermione continued to stare at him...yeah, that felt like it belonged to him.

Ron looked around the stands. "Where is everyone?"

"Harry said he was going to be here in a minute," Hermione said.

Neville, sitting down nearby, said, "And Ginny and Dean should be here any minute. Bean?" he offered, holding out a bag of Every Flavor Beans. Ron and Hermione both shook their heads. Neville shrugged and started to eat them himself.

"Yeah, Luna should be here pretty soon," Ron commented, and wanted to kick himself, although he didn't know why. It just felt like...he shouldn't mention Luna around Hermione. Which made absolutely no sense, since it wasn't like Hermione would care...besides; she was one of his best friends.

Hermione was staring straight ahead, as she commented, "You and Luna...it's interesting."

Ron glanced at her. What exactly did that mean? "Interesting?" he echoed.

Hermione flushed a bit, but continued. "I don't know...I just thought...well, you always went for the pretty girls, the ones without a lot of depth."

"Gee, Hermione, thanks for making me feel superficial," Ron bit out.

Now Hermione was really blushing. "You know what I meant."

"No, actually, I don't," he snapped, feeling very irritated. "And where are you getting that idea anyway, from Fleur? Bloody hell, Hermione, she's half-veela. What did you expect?"

"I don't know," Hermione muttered. "But Luna's so...different."

Ron didn't like the way she said that. "So? Maybe that's what I like about her," he replied as calmly as possible.

"Okay," Hermione said, nodding.

Ron, for no reason, decided to elaborate. "And she's not boring, y'know? You never know what's going to come out of her mouth."

"Yes, but most of what she says is completely illogical," Hermione commented.

Ron grinned. "Maybe to you."

There was a pause in the conversation, and Ron started to wonder if it was such a good idea, talking about all this with Hermione. This was so insane...after all, Hermione was one of his best friends, so he should be able to talk to her about this kind of stuff...but he couldn't. Besides, she didn't seem interested--maybe Ron should just keep his mouth shut. Yeah. That sounded like the best plan.

Ron's nerves grew strained as he saw Luna walking towards him, along with Harry, Ginny and Dean. Oh, bugger. Hopefully everything would turn out all right—

Of course it will, Ron tried to assure himself. There's absolutely no reason why Luna and Hermione can't get along. Well, except for the fact that they're polar opposites...

Luna casually slid in next to him and took his hand in hers. "Hello, Ron, Hermione," she said easily.

"Luna," Hermione said politely. That was a relief.

Ron grinned at her. Even with the Hermione thing, he was glad to see her. "Hey," he said, and impulsively kissed her on the cheek.

"Oy!" Dean said, grinning as he and Ginny sat down in the seats above them. "Do you two need to get a room or what?"

Ron rolled his eyes. "Shouldn't I be asking you and Ginny that question? You're the ones snuggling all the time." He shook his finger at Ginny. "Better watch out, or Dean'll be receiving a Howler too..."

Ginny whacked him on the head, and then got a crafty look on her face. "Luna?"

Luna turned around. "Yes?"

Ginny gave her a syrupy-sweet smile, and that put Ron on edge. Whatever she was planning, it couldn't be good. "Since you're Ron's new girlfriend, I have a few tips for you."

Ron groaned and put his face in his hands. He knew it.

"First," Ginny said as if she wasn't putting Ron through utter hell, "whenever he starts talking about the Cannons, act as if they're the greatest team in the world, even though—"

"That's not their fault!" Ron nearly howled. "They were cursed by some stupid wizard with a grudge—"

"Even though," Ginny continued, raising her voice, "their team motto is the uninspiring 'let's just keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best'."

Dean started laughing, and Ron could see Neville grinning up at him. Clearly, they were sadists. And why couldn't Dean make Ginny shut up?

"Second, never, ever bring lil' Ronniekins near a spider, big or small, as he does have a bit of a phobia about them."

Ron buried his face in his hands again.

"Third, if he ever breaks your heart, just come to me, and I'll take care of everything."

Ron's head went up immediately. "I'm not going to do anything!" he protested.

"Oh, like you didn't threaten to hand poor Dean over to the twins," Ginny shot back, but then her demeanor changed, became serious. "And Ron... the third rule works both ways, you know."

Works both ways?—oh.

Luna smiled up at Ginny. "Don't worry," she said, and the way she said it...Ron had trusted her before, but now, for some reason, it...it was like this was a confirmation of his trust. Like he'd done the right thing, trusting Luna.

Ginny smiled at both of them, and then cleared her throat. "The game's about to start." So everyone turned back to the pitch, and began to watch.

Because Ron was so focused on the game, and on the feel of Luna's hand within his, he didn't notice the guilty looks Ginny gave Hermione, or the way Hermione would glance at him sometimes, when he wasn't looking. And Hermione ended up giving Ron a lot of looks, because Ron wasn't looking at all.

A/N: You can find an outtake from this chapter at my livejournal. The link's on my profile. The title of the outtake is Divided Loyalties, and it's in Ginny's POV and rated PG.