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“Ron hurt me, Harry,” Luna started in a panicked, weird voice, as if ashamed that such thing had happened to her. It was a shameful event indeed, only it wasn't her who should have been ashamed in this case. I knew it had been Ron, and I knew that he had hit her, I just wanted to know why on Merlin's name he had done such a lowly thing.

Given, Ron had a record of being bold and insensitive to those that would have deserved better. Quite a few things had happened during our Hogwarts years that, no matter how hard I'd been trying to forget them, were still present deep inside, a sensitive wound that started oozing blood as you carefully started unwrapping the bandage covering it.

We had fought in our fourth year, when he, in yet another rage of jealousy, accused me for going for fame by having put my name into the Goblet of Fire. It was just about my worst few months at Hogwarts; as if the animosity of the three other houses hadn't been enough, I almost had to be killed by the Horntail so that the one I used to consider my best friend would finally see reason and understand the simple truth I'd been trying to explain to him quite some time. It was, just like many times before and after that, Hermione to keep the spark inside me alive, so that I was able to walk the corridors with my head raised and see past the “Potter Stinks!” badges all but a handful of students – mostly from the other two participating schools – refused to wear.

When he finally admitted that he had been a git all this time – not that I minded if he hadn't, at that point – I tried to close my eyes at the past and enjoy the fact that I'd finally got my best friend back.
Then, I was forced to watch how his co-called “romance” with Hermione was unfolding in sixth year. I saw him hurt her numerous times; I saw her with red, puffy eyes almost every day because in his egoism he was unable to see past his own nose and put always his interests upfront. The best thing I could do was lend a shoulder to her to cry on. I knew I shouldn't and mustn't have interfered in their relationship; it was something for them to sort out. Later on, sometimes I was thinking I had most probably made one of my biggest mistakes by not interfering then; it could have spared us all the tears and humiliation; all the years wasted in vain on searching what all this time was within our reach.

When he left us just like that in that forest, our world had turned upside down. Hermione was lost without him; I, with an emotional range of barely greater than that of a tea-spoon, wasn't there when she needed me most. I wasn't able to provide her the comfort and safety she needed; there was the two of us but we hadn't grown into the team we should be in order to succeed.

From the distance of the few past years, I could clearly understand that this event had been the trigger for Hermione and me; this was the point of no return for both of us. And, even if we hadn't admitted that – something we both had felt sorry for ever since – that day the Golden Trio had ceased to exist. After Ron's return us were three again, but things had never been the same afterwards. And now this.

I reached this point in my train of thoughts before I could count to three; Luna's last word was still ringing in my ear. My blood was boiling and I instinctively reached for my wand. Luna didn't miss this small movement and put her small hand on my arm, trying to calm me.

“What did he do to you, love? More importantly, why did he hit you, of all people?” I asked in a hoarse voice, unwillingly going into Auror mode. I reached for her hand and felt her fingers clenching mine with such an unexpected strength, that I involuntarily hissed from pain. I rather felt than saw her apologetic smile and gave her a reassuring peck on her cheek. I didn't dare more at this time. It would have been inappropriate even though I was longing to kiss her, to touch her, to feel her.

“My dear Harry, I'm such a bad mother!” she suddenly began sobbing. I gently hugged her to myself and questioningly raised my eyebrows, even though it was not visible in the faint moonlight. It seemed though that even the celestial orb flinched as it drew closer to listen into our conversation, to find out what had happened to her.

“I was bathing little Molly tonight,” my girl continued a few moments later, somewhat calmer, “and I was just about to pull her out of the bathtub when she somehow slipped out of my hand. I may have not rinsed her off properly from the soap; I have no other explanation for it. Luckily, I managed to cast a wandless Cushioning charm that stopped her from falling into the bath again, but Ron came in the bathroom this very moment and saw only little Molly falling. I had never seen him that frantic, ever. Even during the Battle, when he went after Fenrir Greyback. He was absolutely calm and concentrated when he cast the Killing Curse at the werewolf. Tonight he went berserker in two seconds. He shouted at me, he called me names, he told me I was the worst mother in the world, while I was clutching Molly to myself. Then he hit me straight in the face, not caring that I could drop my girl, this time for real. Does it make me a bad mother, Harry?” She raised her tear-stained face at me, the moonlight eerily reflected in her huge blue eyes.

I drew a few sharp breaths and clenched my fingers into a tight fist a few times. “Luna, love, I never had a mother and the closest to being one to me was Mrs. Weasley, all this time, ” I admitted the well-known fact as if it were the news of the century. “Leaving this beyond consideration, I would have been the happiest child on Earth if I had a mother like you. I saw how gentle, loving, caring, protective you are to little Molly; there's not much more any child could ever…”

Luna didn't let me finish the sentence. She ferociously attached my lips with hers, momentarily taking my breath away; softly moaning into my mouth as I pressed her tiny frame against me, my tongue gently sweeping over her lips seeking entrance. I felt desire and lust washing over me, over us, like a giant wave over a stormy sea, but I tried to fight my dangerously rising level of hormones knowing that this was not the appropriate moment for it, no matter how I longed for her.
With a last, gentle kiss, I held her away at arm's length. “Luna, sweetheart, there's something I have to do, right now. Ron has been hurting everybody he has been close with. Some of those past events could be explained, one way or another, but there's no explanation for what he has done to you today. This has to stop.”

Then, something unexpected happened. In one swift movement, the beautiful young witch stood up from the bench and before I could object, she was kneeling in front of me on the ground, openly crying again.

“Harry, please don't hurt him! I love him, even if he sometimes treats me bad. I know it's not him, really, it's only a bad Nargles' infestation that makes him do things like that. Please do-o-on't hurt my Ron!”

Before she could finish the first sentence, I knelt in front of her, however, that “sometimes” made me frown. So, this wasn't the first time? Of course, what else was to be expected from Mr. Weasley?
I gently cupped my girl's cheeks and rested my forehead against hers.

“Luna, by hurting your husband I would be hurting you and I promised myself a long time ago never to hurt you again. I won't touch him with a finger and won't raise my wand at him, I swear on my existence and magic!” I pronounced clearly before Luna could stop my mouth with her hand.

Here, in the Shadowlands, no wand was necessary to complete the Wizard's Oath. The white flare that appeared briefly around my body was sufficient proof that my oath had been accepted by the Powers-that-be and, while Luna would have trusted me even without the Oath, I simply had to make sure. At least for myself. Had I pulled my wand to curse Ron to the Moon and back, I would have at least got a short warning, an excruciating pain starting in my magic core and setting my nerves on fire, before my soul was stripped from my body and sent to the Plane of Souls, to wait patiently for the Day of Weighing, the Day of Judgment.

I kissed her slowly, savouring every moment of the kiss and stood in a smooth movement, gently pulling her up as well. I brushed a few stray dirty blond locks of hair from her sweet face and wiped the dirt from her knees, aching not to break skin contact with her. But I had to do this, the sooner, the better.

“I have to go, love,” I said simply, trying to sound more resolute than I was. “I'm going to make sure that that insensitive git of yours won't hurt you, or anybody else, ever again. Please, go back to your world now and don't worry. Everything will be just fine. And, if I'm not mistaken, Ron will tell you everything in the morning. Go!” I repeated impatiently, as I saw her contours starting to dissolve in the air, the sign that she had been spending too much time here in the Shadowlands and she had to return to the world of the living if he didn't want to get stuck on the border of the two Planes until the end of Time.

She threw me a last kiss through the air, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

At first, I Flooed Mum and Dad and quickly explained everything. Mum was quickly flushing a vivid shade of purple and she started yelling at me that I shouldn't be interfering with their lives. It didn't do me any good; just when I needed all my patience and calmness, I had to face the infamous Lily Potter-temper again.

“Mum, with all respect, shut it.” I never ever hit a tone like this against her; having been gotten by surprise, she just did what I said, a few times silently opening and closing her mouth. “I'm not interfering into their lives; I'm merely doing what I should have done years ago. Ron has been hurting and betraying people, especially the ones closest to him and we have always forgiven him for that. And, before you go spare on me again, I have made up my mind about Luna. I will have to hurt her one last time and you know that I would rather cut my right hand off than do that, but it has to be done.”

With an irritated scoff, I broke the Floo call. Pocketing my wand, I quickly did the usual meditation and breathing exercise and muttered the incantation, weaving Ron's name into the text.

Ron's dream was orange. Such a bright orange that I had to cover my eyes as I reached my destination. When I was able to distinguish forms and colours again, I was surprised to find myself at the empty Quidditch stadium of the Chudley Cannons. In the distance, I could easily make out the contours of my once best friend, lazily circling around the poles on his Firefox 2000. From behind my back, I could hear the approving roar of the crowd as Ron finished an impeccable Wronski's Feint and was just hovering in mid-air, breathing heavily, but with a victorious smile on his freckled face.

I pulled my wand and said the incantation I had in mind, silently praying that I wouldn't be stuck in this form forever. Having seen movement in the distance, Ron sped towards the source of it – me, that is - on the broom and I saw his eyes grow the size of a saucer, fear and panic imminent in them. The next second, however, I was forced to admit that he somehow managed to overcome his legendary fear of spiders; I heard him curse under his breath and the next moment he sent a Stunner my way. I don't even know how I managed to deflect the jinx; it wasn't an easy task to hold my wand in the front leg of a giant Acromantula.

Before I even managed to turn my huge, hairy body, incomfortably wobbling on eight legs I still hadn't gotten used to, he came again in a crash-dive, sending another Stunner into me. I saw his face was whiter than chalk, yet, he pressed his lips into a thin line and charged at me, pulling up the last second before any of my legs could reach him.

“I can't believe I can't blast this fucking spider into pieces!” I heard him curse again, this time loud and I felt it was time. Clearly intoning “Expelliarmus”, I knocked his wand out of his hand and stepped on it.
“Get off your broom, you moron,” I hissed in a voice, barely resembling human. “You and I, we need to have a small chat.” He gave no notice, so I had to go over to more drastic measures. My next jinx blasted his broom into tiny particles; his consecutive fall from about thirty feet was stopped by a quick Cushioning charm. Levitating him closer, I put him on his feet and applied a partial Body-bind Curse, strong enough so that his feet wouldn't listen and he couldn't escape.

“As I told you, Ron, we need to talk. You have done something today I never thought you'd ever be capable of. Luna told me that you had hit her, you lowly piece of dragon excrement.” I was pissed as hell; the insults came far too easily.

Having been forced to stand in front of an Acromantula only slightly smaller than him, without his wand, his courage has left the ginger-head very quickly. He went even paler; were it not for the Body-bind that had left no space for movement, his legs would have already given in. For a small moment I realized that I was being no better than him, having forced him into a nightmare and appearing before him in a spider's body, however I was sure it was my only chance to make myself understood. Were he able to face his biggest fear, he should be able to face what he had done as well as the consequences his cowardly deed might inflict upon his stubborn head.

“GO AWAY!” He pulled himself together with an incredible strength. “I'm not talking to fucking spiders!” Then, he finally understood what I had just told him and stood there, his mouth agape, for a whole minute. “Harry? What the hell... Turn back into yourself so that I could see you! You know I hate spiders,” he whined pathetically.

I raised my two front legs and, to make my point, clicked with my fangs a few times. “Why would I do that, Ron? Now I at least have your attention.”

He struggled against his magical bounds trying to back off, to get away from the disgusting creature I had turned myself into, but his muscles wouldn't listen, of course. He went even paler, if that was at all possible, and for a moment, seeing that frightened grimace on his face, I felt sorry for him. Almost.

“Tell me, Ronald Weasley, Knight of the Order of Merlin, First Degree, do you remember our years at school? Do you remember how many times you had hurt one of us and how many times, basically each and every fucking time, you got away with it? Do I have to spell out those moments to you or can you remember them on your own?” I spoke, well, rather hissed, slowly; the mouth of a spider is not really well accustomed to forming the sounds of human speech. He barely perceptible nodded, his mouth agape, the display of sheer horror in his eyes. I drew just the slightest bit closer to him as I continued.

“Ron, Ron, you have everything in this life you have ever wished for yourself and yet, you are insatiable. Do you enjoy your celebrity status that much? Do you feel strong, having beaten up Luna? Do you always pay for friendship, love and care with betrayal? Because this is betrayal, Ron. Luna is your wife and the mother of your daughter, for Merlin's sake!” I was trembling with anger and could barely control myself, my wand emitting sparks of different colours.

For a moment, I saw anger in his eyes, briefly replacing panic. Then the flash was gone, as quick as it had appeared, only to surrender to understanding and immense sadness. Ron gulped heavily as he finally understood what he had done. He lowered his head in deep shame and to my surprise I saw tears glistering in his eyes.

With a casual flick of my wand, I released him from the Body-bind. Too disgusted to look at him any more, I kicked his wand, still under one of my feet, a good ten yards away and turned away from him, slowly filtering my farewell words through my fangs.

“You go home to Luna and your daughter and prove your wife that she will not be making a mistake by considering to forgive you. If you're extremely lucky, she might want to grant you a second chance. Use it wisely; you might not be getting a third one. ”