A date with Ronald Weasley, of all people.  His owl had come out of no where.  She had spent the morning looking over the Prophet's Quidditch pages, trying to catch up on all the events she had missed, just to give her something to talk about, something that would interest him. 

She also felt a bit guilty about not telling Gin what she was up to.  She loved her friend dearly, but she tended to be overprotective.  Merlin only knew what she would say to Luna having a date with Ronald.  Luckily her roommate was also not home, which meant that she could avoid the third degree for tonight.

Apparation instructions carefully memorized, she exited Orchard's Gate and disapparated with a pop.  When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in an alley, which was to be expected.  His letter had mentioned a Muggle restaurant and one could not go using magic on front of them willy nilly.  She quickly exited the alley and entered the restaurant, extremely proud of herself for managing to arrive on time.

Ron sat at a table, sipping his fifth glass of water. He knew in about half hour he was going to be rushing to use the loo. He couldn't help his nerves though and it greatly annoyed him. What had possessed him to send Luna an owl asking her to join him for dinner was beyond him. Well, actually he knew why...He did fancy her a bit and wanted to get to know her better. Never in a thousand years would he had expected himself to be nervously sipping water, running sweaty palms on the front of his nice jeans and getting butterflies in his stomach over Luna Lovegood.

 Though after their encounter six days previously, awkward as it may have been at times, he thoroughly enjoyed her company. Ok, and he thought she was bloody gorgeous as well. He was healthy, competent young man. He couldn't deny that Luna Lovegood and grown to be a very lovely woman indeed. After about two hours attempting to get ready, with Mocha sitting in his room, her eyes following him as he went back and forth, he had settled on a nice black button down shirt, semi fitting jeans and black shoes. And not, to be too cocky, he thought he looked rather good.

 His eyes scanned the front of the restaurant and saw her walking towards him. He stared, not realizing it at first. She did look amazing. Opting to wear a dark blue dress, her blonde hair having a bounce to it. He slid his chair back and walked around the table, meeting her. He grinned and gave her a hug and kiss upon the cheek. He pulled back and smiled. "You look great, Luna. Thank you for coming." he said and pulled her chair out for her.

Luna was glad that he had taken the initiative to greet her.  She had grown nervous as she approached his table, worried that maybe she should kiss his cheek.  Or offer her hand to shake.  She felt so damned awkward at the moment that she didn't even know what to do with her small clutch purse.

"You look nice too, Ronald," she said, stooping to put her purse under her seat.  At least there it would be out of the way.  "Thank you for inviting me."  She took a nervous sip of her water and glanced around the restaurant.  "This seems like a nice place.  Have you been here before?"

 Ron sat down as soon as Luna had and nodded. "Yeah, frequently actually. Hermione told me about it, we went here a few times." he said. He ran a hand through his hair. "It's nice because no one knows who I am in this world. It's great to finally take a breather and not have a mob of fans standing outside the loo for your autograph. Not that I don't appreciate my fans." Great now he was rambling. He was sure she did not want to here about his encounters with all his fans. She would probably find it distasteful, as if rubbing in her face that he was well known.

 "They have an amazing Chicken Parmesan. And vegetarian lasagna too." he said changing the subject as he pointed to the dishes he mentioned on her menu.

"Do they really do that?" she asked.  "Stand outside the loo, that is.  I can't imagine trying to function like that."  She ducked her head.  He obviously didn't want to hear about his own fame.  If he did, he would have suggested a place where Quidditch stars were expected to be seen.

Did that mean that he chose a Muggle restaurant simply because he didn't want his fans to know he had asked Loony Lovegood out?  She shook the thought away, knowing that it was just residual trauma from The Bastard.

"Chicken Parmesan sounds lovely.  What do you think you'll have?"

 "Mmmm, I'm partial to the Penne all'arrabbiata. Very delicious." he said. The waiter came poured them glasses of red wine and wrote down their orders. Ron took a small sip and focused his attention to Luna. "So..How have things been since the last time we saw one another?" he inquired, taking a bread stick, breaking off a piece and eating it. He wondered if she had told Ginny anything about their date tonight. Probably not, because if she had he would have bombarded with numerous owls asking him a million and one questions on why exactly he had chosen Luna to go on a date with.

 He observed couples at the other tables, getting close, some giving their partners a romantic peck on the lips. He had never noticed this restaurant had a romantic setting to it. The lights were dimmed, candles were placed on the middle of the tables. A perfect date. He shook his head and turned to Luna smiling as she began to answer.

"I've been OK.  Ginny and I had a...  I guess you'd call it a mini-party for Harry, to celebrate him passing his exams.  It was just the three of us and Dean, eating pizza and watching the movies that Dean rented.  It was very enjoyable."

She nervously placed her napkin in her lap and placed her hands on top of it.  This gave her the opportunity to fiddle with the cloth without him noticing.  "Subscription's up a little, since our last issue.  Which means that no one was upset over the rise in price.  I was worried about that.  Um...  How about you?"

 Ron listened intently and smiled at the good news about the Quibbler. "Ah Luna, that's fantastic. I'm very glad to hear that. And me, well, the usual. Practice, sleep, practice, sleep, etc." he said waving his hand to emphasize his point. He sipped his wine again. "This is a much anticipated break from the usual." Their food arrived and Ron placed his napkin on his lap. He looked up at Luna and grinned.

 "To having our encounter earlier this week and to hopefully many more." he said raising his glass. 'Dammit Ron! Now she's going to think she has to say yes if by chance you asked her out again. Great going...But keep it up, if you put down your glass and start blushing she'll know something is up.' Ron told himself.

 Luna raised her own glass and clinked it against Ron's.  She wasn't sure, but she thought he was maybe asking her out again.  Should she say yes, if he did?  How awkward would dating her best friend's be?

"To good friends and family," she said, hedging her bets.  "And to an unknown future."

She sipped her wine and set it down on the table, careful to make sure she didn't spill.  "I know we saw each other right after the even, but did you go to the Hogsmeade celebration?  I didn't and I would love a first-hand account from someone who saw the end."

 "Ah, cannot say I did. I could barely move that night. In bed, with Mocha looking at me all worried. Didn't Ginny go?" he said, cutting into his food and taking a bite. He had heard about the festivities and, true that it may be he was in bed with pain, he probably wouldn't have gone. He wasn't into that scene and actually preferred going to a pub with a few of his mates then to be around a crowded area. "Why didn't you attend?"

 He studied her, as he chewed his food. He was actually having a conversation with her. A normal one to boot. No weird talk about strange creatures, or imaginary beasts that lived in Antarctica. He was enjoying this and took another sip of his wine. It had been a while since he had a decent conversation with a person and he was appreciative of the manner.

She wondered if he realized how bad that sounded, or how bad it would sound if she didn't know that Mocha was a dog.  "Ginny went, but she left before the fireworks, so she didn't see anything.  And I stayed with Daddy that night.  Everyone I've talked to seems to think it was part of the light show.  I can't make a judgement, though, since I only have second-hand accounts."  Not that a little detail like that had ever mattered at the Quib.  But, if something big was going to come of the peacock in the sky, then she wanted to make sure the paper got the facts right.  Merlin knew the Prophet wouldn't.

 Ron nodded as Luna talked. "Is your father alright?" Ron asked, hoping it was nothing too personal. That would make everything go down hill and Ron always had a horrible way of making it worse. "Yea, I guess it would have been nice to go there and enjoy everything. But to be honest, it's not really my scene. I'm a very private person....well as long as I can help it."  He wiped his mouth on his napkin and took another sip of his wine. He really hoped that he wouldn't get drunk. He wasn't exactly a light drinker but Muggle alcohol affected him differently. The last thing he wanted was to be stumbling around like a buffoon, with poor Luna wondering why in the bloody hell she had ever agreed to this. 

"He..."  She tried to decide what to tell him since he surely did not want to hear about the details of her father's health.  Not even Ginny wanted the details, and she was a healer.  Which reminded her, she needed to check with Gin to see if she'd be comfortable taking him on as a patient.  And with her father to see if he would find the situation agreeable.  The medi-wizards at St. Mungo's were fine healers, but she thought he might prefer a more personal touch.

"He's been battling an illness, something to do with his lungs.  I don't really understand it myself, despite it being explained by every medi-witch and wizard that has seen him.  Even Ginny's tried, but there's a reason I was never interested in healing.  He's getting better now, much improved in the past few months.  He still has his bad days, but they're fewer and farther between now."

She could see his eyes glaze slightly and cursed herself for even mentioning it.  "Gin said the earlier festivities were fun, at least."

 Ron felt his heart give a small tug. No one should have to go through something like that. He remembered when his father had went in to St.Mungo's after his accident back in his fifth year. It was a horrible feeling not knowing exactly what was going to happen, and not having the medi-witches and wizards telling you exactly what was going on. His heart went out to Luna, she was too nice a girl to have to go through something like that alone. Though he wasn't sure she was telling the entire truth, he did not want to push the subject further. He had a feeling it was a touchy subject.

 "Ah yeah, I heard from some of the mates in the locker room who went that it was pretty good. But was is fun for some, is bad for others." he said nodding his head.

"I think it's that way at most events," Luna said.  The food was really good here.  She'd have to remember where it was so that she could return.  "Surely the things they drag you and your teammates would fit the description?  Unless Gin's right about Quidditch players having birds and blokes hanging off them."  She took a sip of wine as she suddenly realized that her chosen topic was not the best one to bring up during a date.

"Have you been by the clinic yet?  I keep meaning to, but I never seem to have the time.  I'm afraid that when I finally see where your sister works it will be because I tripped over a tamaca."

 Ron nearly choked on his food when Luna said her comment about Quidditch players. He hated that misconception of his lot constantly sleeping with various women and partying hard. Yes, there were those type but Ron was happy to say he wasn't one of them. "Ah, well Luna, we're all not like that." he said, sipping his wine. He shook his head as she continued.

 "Mm, cannot say I have. She just only recently told me she had quit St.Mungo's so I have no idea what's going on. And erm,  this may sound a bit, silly but uh...what exactly is a tamaca?" Ron said. Now this was the usual conversation he was used to. Luna mentioning her odd animals.

"Invisible rodents who get pleasure from wrecking havoc.  They particularly enjoy tripping people and otherwise causing them embarrassment.  Eight times out of ten when a person spills their drink, it's because of a tamaca.  The Quib's recently heard reports that they're breeding like, well, like rodents, in South Wales.  Of course, since they're invisible, no one's been able to prove they even exist.  But how else do you explain train and audimobile crashes?  Or someone falling on a smooth sidewalk?"

 Ron looked at her, hoping that his face showed his interest for the subject. He nodded when she asked him, what he thought, were rhetorical questions. He might as well just go along with it. There was no use in arguing with something that Luna probably had already established in her conscious. "Well, I can see the logic behind that...somewhat." he said and quickly stuffed a forkful in his mouth, to keep from talking about it. He didn't want to say the wrong thing and offend her. He swallowed and cleared his throat, wiping his mouth with the napkin.

 "So, we've talked about our very hectic lives and the jobs that make it so, what I don't know is exactly what you do when you're not being overwhelmed." he said smiling gently at her. "What you enjoy doing on your downtime." He genuinely wanted to know. He had always thought that Luna was the type to go and do strange things, or go to exotic places. He wanted to either be proven wrong or right.

 "Lately I haven't had any down time.  I like spending time with Gin, and reading.  I had a lovely time watching movies and I think I would like to do that again..."  This felt so bloody awkward.  It shouldn't.  Ronald was handsome and fit, and probably graced hundreds of girls' fantasies.  Was it awkward because he was Ginny's brother?  Or was it because she was simply not ready to date yet?

"What do you like to do when you're not in pain from practice?"

Ron listened to her, to make it known that he was actually paying attention to what she was saying. He chuckled at her question. "Ah, well, when I'm not in bed groaning about how I feel like I am going to die, I actually like jogging with Mocha. She is getting a bit heavy....erm, sleeping...eating...OH! And I still enjoy a good game of chess. I'm a bit boring...Not much to me really..." he answered. Suddenly, he felt as though he was an awkward teenager again. Not knowing exactly what to say, or how to go about carrying a conversation with a girl. He had dated many a women yes, since he rose to fame, but with Luna, it was weird. Maybe it was because he had known her since their Hogwarts years, or perhaps, because she shared a living space with his baby sister. She was a beauty, he had to admit, and he sure was a lucky bloke to be there with her that night. But the troublesome nagging feeling in his mind would not go away and he hoped that perhaps he could overcome it soon. He raised his wine glass to his lips once more and smiled before taking another sip of the dark red wine.
 
Luna smiled awkwardly, her fingers once again in her lap, toying with the edge of the napkin.