A/N

Including this one, there's just about four more chapters to go! I'm currently working on a project that's...pretty wild. Fifty points to whoever can guess it! (And no, it's not Finite.) Anyway, onwards...

x Noelle

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SHE SMOOTHES INVISIBLE wrinkles off her dress and swallows hard. The last time she's felt this anxious was during her parents trial. But back then, she'd been rather certain of the outcome—they would not be sentenced to Azkaban, because the jury didn't have enough evidence to prove that they were Voldemort's minions.

She doesn't know how tonight will turn out.

Soft music and bright light peek out from beneath the shut doors of the ballroom. She can only imagine how many reporters and photographers are in there, not to mention the plethora of guests invited for this special occasion. She's over an hour late, but as her mum would say, 'better late than never'. And the idea of never showing up tonight, at the Ministry's Third-Year Memorial & Charity Ball, is unthinkable.

It's been years since a Greengrass has made an appearance at a public event. But this new world belongs to her as much as it does to anyone else. After all, she helped fight for it. She takes a deep breath and reaches for the doors.

Time to show the world what Greengrasses are made of.

When she pushes the doors open, no one notices her at first. Light chatter and laughter bounce around the room; people flit about, mostly in groups of twos and threes, with bigger crowds sat at tables. But, gradually, the whispers begin. The stares. The flashing cameras.

She holds her head high, but it's hard not to let the attention get to her. Her throat tightens; the faces around begin to blur. She shouldn't be here. This was a bad idea. A really, really bad idea. She whirls around, ready to escape, only for someone to step into her path.

"You made it."

Ron's voice is quieter than usual, perhaps because of their spectators. But he doesn't seem to notice them. His blue eyes fix on her face. It's been a full month since they last met. She still remembers, with perfect clarity, how bright those very eyes had looked when he'd asked her about the Ministry ball.

"So are you going?" he'd asked, in between bites of the butter chicken they'd ordered in that night. Apparently, he'd taken them being colleagues as code for 'closer friends than ever'. He'd started showing up at her flat once every week, first with work complaints as an excuse, then to claim that his flat was too far and the Burrow too loud, so why couldn't he just have dinner here?

"Oh, that." She'd received the Ministry's invite days ago, but wasn't sure what to RSVP. She didn't think she would RSVP anything at all. "Maybe. I don't know. Harper did ask me to go with him, but I wasn't sure what to say."

Ron's eyes had narrowed. "You're going with that arse?"

"He's not an arse, he's my family's lawyer. He's the reason my parents didn't go to Azkaban."

"Yes, your great benefactor, the saviour of your world. Meanwhile, when I offered to help you, you wouldn't even consider it! Do you have to keep going on and on about him?"

"First of all, I didn't accept your help because I didn't want to make use of you. And secondly, I've only mentioned Harper twice in the entire course of our friendship."

"That's right, on and on!" he'd sniped, as he counted two off his fingers. She would've been amused, if she hadn't been so bewildered at that moment. "Not to mention he's a bloody creep. Don't you remember how he tried to feel you up when you were thirteen?"

"He wasn't trying to feel me up! He was trying to kiss me—"

"Like there's a difference—"

"—And if memory serves me well, you were the one who kissed me in the end."

That had shut Ron up, but only for a moment. His cheeks had reddened, but his blue eyes still flashed with clear anger. "You know what—go with sodding Harper. I'll just go with Romilda Vane."

"Romilda Vane? You mean the girl you fell madly in love with for, like, five minutes because of a potion?"

"Yes, and maybe I'll fall in love with her for real this time!"

And that was that. She'd stormed off to her room after, and heard her front door slam shut minutes later. It had been the most ridiculous argument she'd ever had, and it had driven the most important person out of her life.

But he's here now.

He stares at her for a moment longer, before he adds, "I didn't think you'd come."

"Me neither. But I figured it was time." Time to make an appearance in public. Time to stop caring about what people think. Time to meet you again, because it's been a long month without you.

She holds his gaze and slides those thoughts one by one into his mind. In spite of his Auror training, he's never really Occluded his mind from her, and neither has she. His lips quirk in the faintest of smiles, and she knows their stupid fight is forgotten.

"Did you, um...come with anyone?" he asks, looking over his shoulder as though expecting to find Harper behind her.

"No. Did you?"

"Yes, actually—"

"Oh." It takes everything in her to keep her face and voice controlled, and not show her disappointment. Just when she thought tonight would be different... She swallows and looks away, only for Ron to speak again.

"—I was waiting for you." Her eyes fly up to his, and he reaches into the pocket of his formal robes. He brings out a shiny white card and hands it to her. "Here."

It's his invitation for the Ministry ball. He'd ticked 'will be attending' and 'plus one'. In the empty space for his guest's name, he'd written in a messy scrawl:

Astoria Greengrass.

His lips turn up in a crooked grin. "I was hoping you'd show up, anyway."

"I was hoping you'd ask."

"You were?" She nods and he blinks, then runs a hand through his hair. "Oh, well, I'm just glad you're here." His gaze sweeps up and down her body for the briefest moment, but it's enough to send a shocking heat pulsing through her. His Adam's apple bobs as he swallows, and his cheeks tinge red. "You look, um...really nice, by the way."

She knows she does. Her sleek, column gown had come from a Muggle boutique and she'd turned it from black to a sultry red, save for the emerald pendant nestled between her breasts. Her fingers rise unconsciously to it, and the action draws Ron's eyes as well. She can't help feeling ridiculously pleased at that. So much for Gryffindor honour.

"Thank you," she says softly. "So do you."

And he does. He's not wearing the atrocity he'd had back at the Hogwarts Yule Ball. His robes are simple and black, with deep red stitching at the hem, and fitting enough to show off his broad shoulders and lean form. He's even managed to wrangle his red hair into a neater mess.

Thank Merlin he hadn't brought Romilda Vane. Love potion or not, it would be hard not to fall in love with him.

"Thanks," he says, still flushed. "Do you want to get some food? It's really good this year."

Her eyes light up. She may not have the ridiculous appetite that he does, but she knows how to enjoy good food. "Is there bacon-wrapped asparagus?"

"I knew you were a woman after my own heart!" he enthuses, as he wraps a hand around her elbow. "But asparagus? There are mini cheeseburgers, Astoria. Mini cheeseburgers! I ate like five of those."

She laughs as he leads her off. Flashes of light follow them, and she knows the headlines will be filled with gossip about 'Ron Weasley's New Beau' and 'Scorned Greengrass Snags War Hero' tomorrow. She knows that he'll finally introduce her to his friends tonight, and they won't be surprised because he's probably already told them about her. She knows she and Ron will eat and dance and talk the night away, until her feet are sore and her sides hurt from laughing too much.

She knows, without even having Seen it, because it's Ron. And she's starting to think that, with him, everything can be that simple.