Ron chuckled at Luna's statement. "Yeah..Think you're right about that. Sorry about that by the way. The gloves-" he said and held up his bag. "distracted me." He looked at her and she looked the same as the last time he had seen her previously. Which was not such a bad thing. He smiled at her and moved her to the side a bit as a rather big, burly man came storming past him grumbling about something or other. "So, it's been awhile. How thehel ...How have you been?" he asked, catching himself. He really did need to work on his speech communications. His publicist told him numerous times to refrain from cursing in public. And amazingly, Ron was trying out his advice.

"I'm good. Busy, unfortunately." Her stomach chose that moment to let out an audible growl and she felt her face heat in embarrassment. "And hungry. I was on my way to eat. Would you like to join me? Or are you too famous to dine with the little people now?" Eating with a friend was much more pleasant than eating by oneself. She always felt awkward when she ate alone, as if everyone was staring at her.

Ron smiled at her. "Yes, I would love to join you...And please don't remind me of my 'fame'. It still feels a bit...strange to have people fascinated by me." he said and extended his hand for her to step forward first. "I just do what I love to do as a living. The world's attention is just part of the job...unfortunately." They walked along the semi crowded street and he turned to her. "So, how's the Quibbler? Anything exciting arise yet?" Ron braced himself to hear an outrageous story about some odd looking creature that lived in The Netherlands.

Luna smiled over at him. It was so nice when people took interest in the paper. She knew what most people thought about it, that it was complete bunk. She never could understand why the Prophet's supposed news was more 'real' than the Quibbler's. You only had to read the headlines to know that their reporters made up at least half their stories. And, yes, theQuib's staff was known to... exaggerate on occasion. But only on occasion.

"The paper's doing well, I think. Have you heard anything about the issue that was released today? I'm a bit worried that raising the price drove away some of our readers. I'm just waiting for the fall out. Here's the Leaky. Does that work for you or would you like to find a cafe? It's a lovely enough day that we might be able to sit outside. It might be the last day we can."

"Ah, can't say I had a chance to pick up a copy sorry." Ron said. It was true, to a certain extent. But Ron had to be honest...he never read the Quibbler. Hell, he rarely read anything at all anymore. He usually was informed by others about what was being said in the Prophet. "Ah, well if it might be the last day we can we should definitely try a cafe." he said and grinned at her. "What about this one?" He pointed to one a few feet down.

"I've never eaten there," Luna said. She was pretty sure it was the cafe that had just opened a few months before. The Prophet had given them good reviews. Food reviews were one of the few things the paper managed to get right, in her opinion. "It never hurts to try something new, right?"

The cafe was busy, but their was a table right at the edge that was free. Luna sat down and smiled up at the waitress who hurried over with a set of menus. The poor witch looked harried and she made a mental note to leave a large tip for her.

"Good afternoon and welcome to Cafe Daydream. My name's Milica and I'll be your server. Would you like to start with an appetizer? The fried pumpkin sticks are a seasonal favorite."

"I don't think so," Luna answered after a quick glance at Ronald.

Ron studied the menu and then nodded at Luna's decline of an appetizer. "No thank you, Milica." he said and offered her a smile. The waitress then studied him with wide eyes. 'Bloody hell.' he thought.

"You're...You're..."she stammered. Ron sighed and gave her a weak smile.

"Yes...I'm Ron Weasley. This is my friend Luna Lovegood, interim editor for the fine magazine The Quibbler." he said motioning to Luna. "Luna, what would you like to drink?" He prayed that the waitress would take the hint and treat them like normal customers.

"Hot apple cider," she answered. There was something about Autumn that made her crave the drink. There was a tree just past Ronald that had what appeared to be a face in the bark. It was a tree that she must have passed a thousand times over the years, but she had never noticed the oddity. Could it be a dryad?

She came to realize that the waitress was not writing her order down, instead Milica was staring raptly at Ronald. Luna thought it was a bit absurd, the look on her face. Yes, he played Quidditch. Yes, he was famous. But he was still Ronald. To her he would always be the boy who choked miserably during his first few games at Hogwarts. He was Ginny's brother, Harry's friend, and not someone to stutter over.

"Or we could just go to a different cafe," she said, her tone a bit sharper than normal. She rethought her stance on tipping as the waitress continued to ignore her. "I said apple cider."

She felt herself blush as the other patrons turned to see who had raised their voice. But, it caught Milica's attention and the witch regained her professional demeanor.

Ron looked at Luna admiringly. He had never thought Luna to be the at times forceful type. He had always seen her as the strange yet oddly amusing friend of Ginny and member ofDumbledore's Army in their Hogwarts years. "I'll have a Pumpkin Juice." he said still looking at Luna. He then realized his lapse and shook his head, clearing his throat as he did so. He averted his eyes to the waitress and gave her a small nod. "Right, a Pumpkin Juice."

He ran a hand through his shaggy hair, a nervous habit he had recently developed and smiled at her. Merlin, how many times was he going to smile at her. She would probably begin to wonder what on Earth was wrong with him. He leaned back in his chair and stretched out his long legs. "Sorry about that...." he said motioning to the waitress as she walked away. "I really hate that. I mean...I'm just a normal bloke. Well, as normal as a Pro Quidditch Player can get. I didn't think she'd act like that."

"People get star struck," Luna said, shrugging off the waitress's behavior. She felt a bit bad for snapping at Milica, but she really was hungry. "How have you been? And don't worry, I don't believe a word the Prophet prints, so I know you haven't been shagging Joey Jenkins. For one thing, there's never been any indication that you're interested in men in that way."

Ron choked on air. Leave it to Luna to mention something like that. He placed a hand on his chest as he finished coughing. "Erm, yea thanks, Luna." he said turning red. "And you're right, I am in no way interested in men...like that. Though I honestly haven't been shagging anyone as of late." He then mentally cursed himself for the slip. 'Good job Ron. Now she'll think you can't even get a woman to shag.' Which was true, but she did not need to know that.

"But erm...yes. Enough talk about whom I haven't been shagging. Ah, thank you, Milica." he said amazingly grateful that the gawking waitress had returned with their drinks. He quickly sipped his juice to keep from saying anything else embarrassing. "Would you like to order first, Luna?"

"Thank you," she answered before turning to the waitress. "I'd like a turkey sandwich crisps please." Not the most imaginative lunch, but it was what she wanted at that particular moment. She looked at Ronald expectantly, waiting for him to order.

"Uh...I'll have Roast Beef sandwich with crisps. Extra sauce please." he said handing over Luna and his menu. Milica nodded and hurried to the kitchen. Ron scratched the back of his head and looked at Luna. "How's the place? You and Ginny's that is. Haven't had the time to stop by. Practice and Preparation is kicking myars...bum frankly."

"I would scold you about making time, but in all honesty sometimes I forget what the place looks like. I've been so busy I didn't even know she had opened her own practice. Or that Dean had moved in. Caused a bit of confusion, that.

"You know that Harry's taking his exams today, right?"

Ron choked on his pumpkin juice. "Dean moved in!?" he stammered. His blue eyes wide. 'When in the hell did that happen? Why wasn't he informed? Why didn't anyone tell him anything? He patted his chest slightly and regained his composure. "Erm, right. Yea...I knew that. But yes Harry. He told me about that a few weeks ago. He's going to knock those exams dead. I know it." He knew Harry would. He was better at thatauror stuff than Ron knew he, himself, would be.

Milica came back with their orders, staring warily at Luna. Ron ignored her and turned to Luna. "Looks good, huh?" he asked, motioning to the food and grinning.

Luna looked at him with wide eyes. "Not like that. Rowena, no! He needed a place to stay for a bit, and Gin offered up Orchard's Gate." She decided to forgo telling him that Dean slept in Ginny's room with her. She really didn't think anything was going on with the two, especially not after Gin's revelation that she had a crush on her gay patient. Her friend wasn't the type to eschew the emotional component when it came to sex.

"It does look good." She popped a crisp in her mouth and savored the salty taste. "I should have sent him a good luck card or something. Did you send him one?" Off his confused look -- she kept forgetting that not everyone segued between topics the way she did -- she explained. "Harry. For his exams. I should have sent him a card or something. I bet Gin did. She remembers to do things like that."

Luna never could. Seamus had gotten unbelievably mad at her when she had forgotten their anniversary. She would have thought it would have been a relief for a guy, to not have to worry about the silly details like that.

Odd that she had remembered the anniversary of their break up, though.

Ron looked at Luna skeptically, he really did not like the idea of Dean being in the same house as Ginny but it was her life. Surely, she could take care of herself, he was sure. Though he had to remember to send her an owl, reminding her that if she needed any sort of help...any whatsoever he was there. Primarily for if Dean tried anything with her... He wiped his mouth on his napkin and shook his head.

"Luna. I'm a man. We don't do things like that and even if we did, I'm Ron. Do you think I would remember to send him a card? Plus I think he would have been slightly disturbed by the matter." Ron said and let out a laugh. "But yea...Gin always remembers the strangest things. Like the day I joined the Cannons...I don't even remember that." He scratched the back of his head, trying to recall.

He observed the fellow dining mates around and then looked at Luna. He couldn't believe that he was actually having lunch with her of all people. Not that it was a bad thing, it just seemed...strange, foreign to him. They had never really had conversation as the one they were currently participating in.

Luna nodded, using the motion to delay talking until she had finished chewing and swallowing. "It's handy to have her around because of that. She keeps a calendar of all the important dates and reminds me of what's coming up. She even remembers Daddy's birthday, though for the life of me, I have no idea how she ever found that out." She took a sip of her cooled cider before continuing. "How have the Cannons been treating you?"

Circe, hadn't she already asked that? It was too late to change the subject, as he was already answering. She just... She didn't know what else to chat about. Harry and Gin covered their mutual friends and she knew he didn't really want to hear aboutsnorkacks or fizzwhizzbits.

"Ah, they're treating me alright. Working me to near death though. I'm thinking of hiring a masseuse . My body's constantly aching." Ron said shaking his head. He then checked his watch and he groaned. "Ah, sorry Luna. But I gotta go. Mocha is going to kill me if I'm late."

Luna nodded and pulled some coins from her pocket. "I should go too," she said, grabbing the last bit of sandwich to eat on the way back to the office. "There's no telling what will happen if I stay away too long. Andersen might decide she can actually spell or something. Thanks for having lunch with me."

Ron gave her coins back. "I've got it. Don't worry about it." he said and took out some galleons, knuts and sickles. "And it was a pleasure having lunch with you and catching up." he said standing up and holding out his hand to help her out of the seat. "Um, I'll see you around then?" He hated awkward moments like these. He never knew what to say. And she probably thought him a very boring lunch partner. 'Good job, Ron.' he thought to himself.

"Yeah... I'm sure we will. I live with your sister after all." Luna sent him one last smile before turning away. It had been pleasant to have lunch with him, even if it was rather awkward at times. She made it twenty feet from the table before her mind wandered back to the Quibbler and she began wondering if Zangari and Maier had decided which one of them was going to interview the Negrescu woman. As far as she was concerned, they could flip a coin to decide. She just wanted them to stop snipping at each other over it.

Ron waved Luna off and continued the opposite way. Mocha would surely be awaiting his arrival at the flat with her nose in her bowl and a somber expression. That dog did have a way with making you feel bad and rubbing it in your face. He put his right hand in his pocket and carried his bag in his left, slinging it over his back. He began to whistle to himself as he turned a corner.


[Summary: Ron and Luna bump into each other and decide to have lunch.]