Chess

Chapter three: Moving On

Sometime later, minutes? hours? He wasn't sure, he became aware of the figure by the window. They were staring out of the window but even with her back turned Ron recognised Padma.

"Padma?"

His voice was almost a whisper, sore from his crying, but she turned towards him all the same. Her face was a mask of anguish and Ron knew she was hurting almost as much as he was. She reached out her hands towards him, as if to embrace him, but he shook his head and looked back at Hermione's still figure.

"Both of them. I've lost both of them. Tell me how to make the next move now if you're so smart. Tell me how to go on living when everyone I love dies around me. Tell me." His voice cracked with emotion and he looked up at Padma, anger filling his eyes.

"Ron, I'm so..."

"Don't say that. Don't say you're sorry. What good does that do? What good do compassion and friendship and love do when it always ends like this. I was never good at anything except being there for them and now they're both gone. It should have..."

But at that moment Padma closed the distance between them and covered his mouth with her hand.

"NEVER say that. You are a wonderful person Ronald Weasley. I know you loved them, I know it hurts, I know I'll never understand quite how you feel right now but NEVER say it should have been you. What would we do without you?"

Ron shook his head and tried to fight against her embrace.

"You'd do just fine. However special I am nobody can say the world wouldn't be better with her in it and me dead. She was so much more than me, so much more than I could ever be. So was Harry. I used to be jealous of him, you know, he was so bright, so brave. I knew I'd never be like him and I hated it. I'm the least of the Trio and now I'm the only one left. Tell me that's just, tell me that's part of some divine plan."

The bitterness in Ron's voice cut Padma to the core. She had no idea what to say to him. Her understanding of losing someone so close wouldn't help her here she knew. The Trio had always been something apart and she couldn't imagine how Ron felt now. Watching Hermione slowly kill herself must have been impossible. It had been hard enough as a friend and Ron was so much more.

"They'd have disagreed. Both of them. They'd have been happy to give their lives for you."

Ron gasped as if her words had been a physical blow. He couldn't find the words to argue, the strength to fight her. He rocked in her arms as if trying to escape from the crushing reality of the situation.

His eyes were trained on Hermione's face and he willed her to wake up, to smile, to curse, anything but lie there so still. Hermione was never still.

"What's the point in going on without her? What's the point of the Knight bravely soldiering on when everything can be ripped away even after the war is over. Knight to E5 you said, well I'll copy you, knight to E5. I took him, I've taken your precious knight. It's over."

Padma shook her head desperately, chess, even now chess. Perhaps she could use it, it had worked before, but somehow she knew this was harder.

"It's not over Ron. It's not over until the king is taken, you know that."

"The king's been taken, whether you mean Harry or Dumbledore, the king's been taken. It's over Padma. Let me alone. Just go away."

He finally broke loose from her grasp and pointedly turned his back on her. She stood, hating to leave him but with no idea of what else to do.

"She said your name, she collapsed and I ran to her just like... I held her and she said your name and that she loved you and that she was sorry and then her eyes went all distant and she sighed," Padma swallowed hard but didn't stop, "she sighed Harry and then she was gone. I wish I could say something to help you Ron. Whether you believe it or not. It's. Not. Over.

***

The funeral was awful. Hermione was a well-known witch and people turned out in their hundreds as they had done for Harry but this time it was different. The war was further away in people's minds and Hermione's friends found themselves at the centre of a whirlwind of press and public attention. There were flattering obituaries, analyses of what had happened to Hermione, discussions on how to deal with those so affected by the war and old wounds were reopened as talk turned to the famous Trio.

In the middle of all the chaos was Ron, pale and alone. Nobody knew what to say to him and, after a while, no-one even tried.

After the memorial those closest to Hermione went to the grave side to watch her body being lowered into the ground. There were tears flowing, unchecked, from most there including Padma. She had come to love Hermione as a sister during the war and her loss had brought back painful memories of Parvati's death.

Ginny clung to Dennis as if he was her anchor and Padma noticed that Lavender, the only remaining Gryffindor girl from that year was clutching Megan Jones' hand. Ron seemed unaware that any of them were there. He stared into the grave and Padma shivered at the lack of life in his eyes. If anyone had asked him how he felt he'd have found it hard to answer, his mind was still trying to accept that Hermione too had gone on ahead.

As the funeral group made to leave the graveyard Padma saw, with horror, that there were hundreds of onlookers waiting for them, including many representatives of the press. She moved instinctively to shield Ron from their gazes and as she did so she became aware of the behaviour of her friends.

All the remaining members of Dumbledore's Army had formed a guard around him and beyond that was a ring of other students.

There were Hannah and Ernie Macmillan supporting Justin Finch-Fletchley who had a strong limp behind them was Zacherias Smith but there was no Susan. She was in St Mungos still unaware of the world around her.

Luna Lovegood was there, covered in scars, and she, Terry Boot and Anthony Goldstein represented the Ravenclaws along with Padma as Marietta, Luna and Michael Corner were dead and Cho in Azkaban.

Ginny clung to Dennis but was standing tall next to Fred, George and Lee Jordan on Ron's right side, on his left were Lavender, Neville and Seamus. Padma passed over the painful absence of her twin and onto the three Gryffindor chasers who were all missing. Katie Bell was in a ward in St Mungos alongside Susan, Alicia had moved to America to escape the memories and Angelina was on duty as an Auror.

It was a smaller group than they had once been and far more weary and battle-scarred but they stuck closely together until they entered the hall where Hermione's wake was to take place. Ron seemed to stir as he walked amidst his friends, looking around at their faces sadly.

"We'd not even be here without her."

His voice was so quiet but all of them heard it. Ginny tried to reach for his arm, to give her brother some kind of comfort, but he pulled away and moved to a corner of the hall away from everyone.

Ginny, Seamus and one or two others looked as if they wanted to follow but it was Padma who actually made the move and as she walked towards him she was sure she heard Charlie telling the rest of them that she'd do better than any of them. She was less sure that was true.

"Fancy seeing you here." Ron's words were light but his voice was dead and his face expressionless.

"It's a good gathering for her."

"No, it's not, she deserves this a thousand times over."

Padma shook her head, this depression covering Ron was not helping him cope with his loss.

"Maybe. I think she'd prefer this though. Just her friends. She'd love to see her precious DA all together."

"Not all. We're not all here Padma," Ron's voice cracked and for the first time he looked at her.

"I know." It was all she could say, looking into his eyes she no longer thought they were dead, she could see they were alive with pain. Taking a deep breath she prayed to any listening deities to aid her friend.

"As many as could come, we can't be selfish and expect everyone we care for to survive when so many were hurt. We've been lucky in so many ways. I can't bear to see the gaps in our ranks but we can't be selfish and wish them back to such pain. We just have to keep going. Ron, we have to keep going."

Ron was very still, he seemed to be listening to her but she had no idea how he was reacting.

"Life goes on, Hermione would have been the first to tell you that before... you know she got trapped and it wasn't fair to keep her here when she was hurting so much but you can keep going."

"NO! I CAN'T!!!"

Ron's voice echoed across the hall and everyone fell silent.

"I can't keep going. I can't carry on. I'm not even bloody living anymore. I survive and barely that. THEY'RE GONE. They're gone and nothing can bring them back."

The last was said with such bitter certainty that something inside Padma snapped.

"STOP IT! Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Don't you think others are hurting? Don't you think we miss Harry and Hermione? Don't you think I feel Parvati's absence EVERY moment? If Hannah could get Susan back don't you think she'd do anything! You're not alone in suffering You're not unique in hurting. You like your bloody chess metaphors so much. Hermione was your Queen, I know that, everyone knows that, you've lost your Queen, my bishop's taken her, bishop to D1. Now what? You just keel over and die? What about the rest of us? Haven't we lost enough? Can you imagine what my life would be like without you? The game isn't over you insufferable idiot, you're still here and you're the player, the game is going on and it will keep on going. There are so many people who need you and if you can't see that Ronald Weasley you're not worth all the love Hermione and Harry and all the others have given you. If you give up now you're throwing away all the love I've ever given you, all the time and effort and care and worry..."

Padma's voice faded into the silence of the hall and Ron just stared at her.

Shaking violently Padma left the room.

***

"Angelina swears she won't marry Fred, she says she knows exactly how much mischief the twins could cause at a wedding and she's quite happy without one."

Padma laughed, that sounded sensible to her. She was having an ice cream with Hannah Macmillan at Fortescues almost a month after Hermione's funeral.

"I bet Mrs Weasley was pleased about that, it'll just put more pressure on poor Ginny and Dennis! What a coward Angelina is for a Gryffindor!"

"They haven't told her, apparently they're just going to remain engaged forever, I think the idea is that she'll just get used to the idea."

Hannah fingered her own wedding ring, "I couldn't have done that, I just wanted to know Ernie was safely mine."

Padma smiled at her friend, Hannah and Ernie had been one of the first pairs to marry once the war was over and it had been a beautiful wedding but tinged with more than a little sadness. As Susan couldn't be there Hannah had refused to have any bridesmaids at all.

"Have you heard from Ron recently?"

Padma was surprised by the change in questioning.

"Not a word since..." Her face clouded at the memory of the funeral. "I think maybe I went too far."

She hadn't wanted to hurt Ron by saying all she had but she'd meant every word.

"Ernie's been talking to Terry Boot, apparently he's really struggling. He's trying to keep the business going but it's just too much for him. Terry thinks he's trying to run before he can walk, he's been through a lot in the last few years. More than the rest of us I think, we were always shielded from the worst of Harry's troubles."

Padma sighed heavily, Hannah was right of course, Ron had been through hell and all she'd done was shout at him.

"I didn't help did I, I should have kept my mouth shut."

"No, it needed to be said, at least he's trying now. He's a good man and he'll get there eventually but... he's proud Padma, I think he needs help but he'll never ask. He's like Ernie in that way."

She smiled, Hannah and Ernie seemed very happy. They shared a house with Justin Finch-Fletchley and Padma knew the three of them spent most of their weekends with Susan, hoping against hope that she'd recognise them one day.

"That's all very well but how do I offer him help without him throwing it back in my face?"

"You'll work it out," Hannah stood up to leave, "I have to go now but there's someone else who'd like a chat."

She motioned down the road and Padma saw the familiar red hair approaching and her heart leapt.

It was awkward at first, Ron apologised for being such an idiot in the hospital and at the funeral and Padma apologised for shouting.

"Don't. I needed it. It's exactly what she'd have done too."

"Still, I should have found a more tactful way..."

"I wouldn't have listened," Ron cut across her. "I needed to be snapped out of that fog and you did that very effectively. It's just..."

Ron's sentence trailed away unfinished and Padma realised she was going to have to draw the truth from him.

"How are you doing in that flat of yours? Isn't it a bit out of the way for friends, and for work come to that?"

Ron tensed slightly. "Work... it is a bit far but how can I leave, it was our flat, how can I leave that behind?"

"The same way you left school behind when the time came. It was a haven for a while but then we had to leave, to move on. The flat was perfect for you and Hermione but it's not perfect for just you."

Padma wondered if she was being too blunt, but she'd always been fairly blunt with Ron, it was how he worked.

"That's true. I thought about moving closer to work but I just can't get up the energy to." Ron snapped the plastic spoon he was fiddling with into small pieces. "It's so hard. Just getting up in the morning is difficult and I can't make myself enthusiastic about work like I used to be. Sometimes I visit George, Fred and Angelina or I spend time with Seamus and Neville and for a while it seems easier but then I go back to real life and it all seems impossible again."

Padma reached out her hand and took Ron's. "You need your friends. You can't exist on your own, you need to be close to us."

Ron shook his head but didn't remove his hand.

"That might make the weekends and evenings better but it won't help with work. I just don't care about it anymore, now all the rebuilding is almost done it doesn't feel useful anymore."

Biting her lip Padma racked her brain for a solution.

"The Twins!"

Ron was surprised into smiling at her outburst. "What about them?"

"They were telling me how they need a business manager, they never were very good at all that stuff. You could be their business manager, move into Hogsmeade, you'd be surrounded by friends at work and at home."

She held her breath, hoping that he'd like the idea.

"Padma Patil, I've said it before and I'll say it again, you are an amazing witch. I'll talk to them, maybe they won't want to work with me I suppose but I can try. It'd be nice to live in Hogsmeade near you all. I missed you, Hermione seemed to be the only Ministry employee who thought she had to live in London."

The smile on his face didn't quite reach his eyes, it was too early for that, but he looked more alive than he had when he first sat down. They chatted about politics, the weather and old friends for a little longer before Padma had to return to work.

***

The next day however she received a note in very familiar handwriting.

Padma,

As of next week I will be the official Business Manager and Partner of Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes. Thanks for pushing me, only a real friend would do that and only you and Hermione have ever been able to wake me up when I'm behaving stupidly. Now she's gone I guess it's up to you to keep me on the straight and narrow. Talking to you makes me miss them less.

Ron

Ps. Bishop to F7 takes pawn. I believe that's Check. Never, ever be dismissive about my bloody chess.

***

Once the decision had been made Ron found that his life changed rapidly. Terry and the others at Weasley constructions put all their efforts into converting a small property on the edge of Hogsmeade for him, it was always a good idea to keep the boss sweet Terry had said.

Barely a month after he had spoken to Padma Ron found himself living amongst his friends and working in the unpredictable world that was Weasleys Wizard Wheezes. In theory he was their business manager, responsible for accounts and the businesses books but in practice Ron soon discovered he was to be a new test subject for his brothers.

For about a day they had been careful of him, remembering how pale he had looked at the funeral, but it hadn't lasted. Ron was thrust back into the mad world of the twins and had to relearn all the techniques he'd had as a child to avoid their latest experiments. He complained bitterly to anyone who would listen but they all just smiled, it was so nice to see glimpses of the old Ron even if it was just his temper.

It wasn't easy of course. Each new morning brought with it the simple challenge of getting up and getting on with his life without Hermione. However ill and weak she had been in the last days she had still been there and Ron came to realise exactly how much he had relied on her presence. Losing her and meant losing his last living ties to the Trio as a group and he found the wound of Harry's death reopen.

Fred and George lost count of the times they found him staring into space, lost in a world they knew nobody could restore to him. Of course he was no longer trapped in a flat, left to deal with it alone. Behind many of the Twins pranks was the desire to shake him out of the trances he slipped into and few days went by when he wasn't invited to lunch or dinner by someone.

***

Despite the Twins best efforts to blow Ron up he remained mainly in on piece. As well as his job at WWW he had continued as the nominal boss of Weasley constructions and if he wanted to escape the twins his old workmates at Weasley Constructions didn't forget him. They'd drop by with fresh anecdotes of building projects gone hideously wrong and they, as well as Lee Jordan, rejoiced in having another Quidditch obsessive around.

Seamus and Neville were always there when the others fell through and on the fringes Ron was always aware of Padma. Her work at the ministry kept her busy a lot of the time but she didn't forget him. Occasionally she'd drop into the shop for a chat or he'd receive mysterious packages in the mail full of Chocolate Frogs or the latest chess manual she'd dug up.

"It's not me who needs them you know." Ron put down Padma's latest offering, delivered by hand this time as they met up for lunch.

"No? I thought you'd appreciate them, I know how much your chess means, I'd never want to be dismissive about it."

Padma noted happily that Ron's smile reached his eyes these days.

"Ha! The quote was my "bloody chess" though and it was accompanied by my last move, if you're feeling challenged though you can always surrender."

There was a challenge in his posture that riled her up.

"Challenged? By you! Some hope, if you remember correctly I beat YOU last time!"

"Good memory you've got, that was a long time ago. I've improved since then."

"Well you could have hardly got worse."

Their sparring was entirely without malice, it followed along well trodden paths. Chess, his intelligence, her work obsession and of course the Yule Ball always made an appearance. It provided a release for both of them and amused everyone else hugely.

"Well go on then, you've had more than a month to come up with an answer. I believe you were in Check."

"Indeed, well remembered. I think moving my King to e7 should remedy that though."

"For the moment anyway, that's not too hard to answer."

"Maybe not, perhaps I could tempt you to dinner next week and you can answer me then."

Ron nodded. "That sounds like an excellent plan."

***

Dinner was fun, Padma had managed to somehow get hold of a table at the brand new No.1 Diagon Alley, a trendy restaurant that had just opened. It transpired that the head chef was none other than Padma's old housemate Anthony Goldstein and the pair had gone into a session of reminiscence that had made Ron wonder aloud how any work had ever got done in the Ravenclaw common room.

"What? Did you think we worked all the time? What a boring life that would have been!"

The mere thought sent the Ravenclaw pair off into fresh hysterics.

"Though some managed to fit the stereotype. Do you remember how we used to have to pry Terry from his books? Now the useless git doesn't go near them working for that building company!"

"Don't be rude about my building company thank you very much! I'm glad to hear some of you worked though."

"Oh we worked. As Anthony said Terry was always attached to his books and anyway most of our fun was had AFTER homework was done. Plus do you know how much you can learn from practical jokes, just look at your brothers after all, I'd love to get them into our Experimental Charms Unit one day."

"She's right, things like those headless hats are amazingly complex spells."

This view of his brothers always stunned Ron. Whilst he had always known that their jokes and pranks used magic he'd grown up hearing his mother berate them for not applying themselves and it still surprised him that they had actually been applying themselves very effectively.

"Anyway. I'd better leave you pair and get back to my kitchen or you'll not be getting your dessert anytime soon." Anthony made his way back across the restaurant, pausing at the occasional table, and Padma smiled watching him go.

"I'm glad to see him so happy. I never really knew what he'd do. Most of the rest of us had fairly firm plans, even Terry, though his changed radically."

"Well most people's plans changed during our last year."

The statement was simple but it held a world of pain and destruction behind it. Padma thought she would never learn to speak of their last year lightly, and perhaps that was for the best, but being around Ron's brutal honesty forced her never to forget it.

"I don't know, I'm still doing what I wanted, though I never thought I'd be doing it without Mandy somewhere by my side."

Mandy Brocklehurst had been a casualty of the final battle, Ron had never really known her but talking to Padma he'd learnt a lot about her and had learnt to regret never having known her.

"I don't really know what I wanted, to be an Auror perhaps, that was Harry's plan, but really I was pretty clueless. I think Hermione was too, but for the opposite reason, there were too many choices for her."

"Parvati and Lavender planned to go into fashion design together, at least they did at the start of our fifth year, they spent all summer planning it. I guess Lavender is actually sort of doing that, or at least writing articles about fashion designers which is close. I can't imagine Neville planned becoming a teacher so soon though!"

"I guess not. It's odd to think we're grown up enough to have a friend who is a teacher. Then again I still feel too young to have friends who are married."

Both of them smiled at that, they were too young for that really, just as they were too young to have so many friends who were dead already, but war made growing up go that much faster.

"That's true, not even just friends, I can't believe my baby sister will be married in a few months time."

Ginny and Dennis' engagement had been fairly long, they had waited till he finished school, but now preparations were speeding ahead. Ginny herself was currently teaching at a Nursery in Hogsmeade and Dennis had a place as an apprentice with a company who dealt in charms and spells to protect wizarding properties.

"I bet your mother's enjoying herself."

"She thinks it's wonderful, she's driving everyone insane with her planning every detail. If Ginny didn't know how much this means to her I think she'd just up and elope." Ron laughed as he remembered the scene he'd found at the Burrow the weekend before.

"She's had poor Alice Kerr in tears twice already, she's Gin's Maid of Honour. On Saturday she told the poor girl that the bouquets they'd designed for the bridesmaids were absolutely hideous, abominations was the word she actually used, as if flowers were vitally important to the smooth running of the wedding."

Padma shook her head, Molly Weasley was lovely when she was being motherly but nobody in their right mind wanted to cross her. "At least she's nice enough to Dennis, I pity any poor girl who marries into your family."

"That's not very nice!" Ron's indignation on behalf of his mother was real but it was slightly tempered by his recognition that Padma was just speaking the truth.

"Not nice, but true. Why do you think Penny got Percy to marry her quietly? Or why Angelina keeps letting her Gryffindor side down and refusing a wedding? For that matter you and Hermione never actually married did you!"

"That was different," he shook his head. "We couldn't get married without Harry. Plus I don't think she would have married me, I know she loved me of course but, well sometimes I thought she didn't really want to go on after it finished."

A silence fell across the table, neither of them could deny outright that idea. Eventually however the dessert arrived and the tension was broken.

"Any girl I marry is going to have to be prepared to take me, family and all, if she can't cope with a Weasley wedding then how on earth will she cope with BEING a Weasley!"

Padma threw her hands up in horror at the mere idea. "What a horrible idea! I think I'll just stick to beating Weasleys at chess, much less scary."

"Speaking of chess, I believe it's my go and I believe you're in check again. Moving my Bishop to C5 I'll take your pawn and..."

"And check, yes yes yes, It get the point." She stuck her tongue out at him and back in the kitchen Anthony smiled to himself.

If either of them had known what he was thinking they'd have been horrified but slowly all their friends were starting to notice just how much time they spent in each others presence. One by one they caught themselves talking about 'Padma and Ron' just as they spoke of 'Neville and Seamus' or even 'Ginny and Dennis' and they wondered.

The anniversary of the Final Battle was a huge event in the wizarding world but, in an unspoken accord, Ron's friends knew it wasn't a date they should remember as a group. He was left to himself on that night. If he had wanted company it would have been there but he had never seemed to yet.

Acting out of some desire for commemoration of the lost generation of Hogwarts students they created their own memorial day. In the end, the night they chose was the anniversary of Bellatrix's death, the night they had come together as a group to mourn those they had lost so far in a wake. They gathered in the largest house they could find, that meant Hannah and Ernie's now, with plenty of alcohol and proceeded to tell stupid stories and get as drunk as possible. Normally it ended with a few in tears but it wasn't a maudlin event.

This year most of the stories seemed to centre around the ridiculous romances of their childhood years, mostly centring on Ginny and Dennis, making sure they both knew everything about the other's past.

"Ginny dated Michael Corner you know."

"But he ran off to Cho, couldn't take her beating his team at Quidditch."

"Then she dated Dean for a bit but it barely lasted the summer."

"Then there was Benji Jones, he was a bit of a prat though, a Hufflepuff."

There was a pause in Seamus and Lavender's history as Seamus ducked cushions aimed at him by the various 'puffs around the room.

"He was a dear, I was with him for a while after her, but he wasn't very exciting."

"So she moved onto Christopher Nott, a Slytherin of all things! I think he might have been too exciting though."

"Then she was actually single for a while, things got a little too hectic for dating I'm afraid."

"True. Though I heard rumours about interesting sleeping arrangements..."

"SEAMUS!" Ginny had finally had enough and she launched herself at the unfortunate boy. "You can just keep your mouth shut about 'sleeping arrangements' mister!"

Dennis just sat in the corner and laughed with the rest, he knew everything there was to know about Ginny and loved her anyway.

The only ones who seemed to be taking it as anything other than a joke were the Weasley brothers. Fred was hampered from actually attacking Seamus by his wheelchair and from any other revenge by Angelina who was sitting in his lap. George had always been the most sensible about Ginny but he had gone an unfortunate shade of red at the mention of sleeping arrangements. Ron was being forcibly restrained by Padma on one side and Terry on the other.

When this was pointed out to Ginny she stopped attacking Seamus and turned on her brothers, berating them for their over protectiveness.

"I don't know what you're getting so worked up about. Fred, you've been with poor Angel forever and you've still not set a date! I can't even remember the name of George's current girlfriend there have been so many and as for Ron!"

"As for Ron what?"

A silence settled over the group as the siblings faced each other. Padma became aware that there seemed to be as many eyes on her as on Ron.

"As for Ron, he's so blind he wouldn't know a girl if she threw herself at him."

The room collapsed into giggles and thoughts inevitably turned to the Yule Ball and the Gryffindors found themselves the centre of attention, replaying Ron and Hermione's argument as the unfortunate Ron hid his head in a cushion.

A few hours later and Ron found himself in the kitchen with Padma making Hot Chocolates for those who were still awake. Ron had assumed they were going to be using magic but Padma had reached for an enormous saucepan and was now rooting around in the cupboards for some cinnamon to put in the chocolate.

"Where on earth did you learn to make muggle Hot Chocolate?" Ron leant against the kitchen counter watching her work.

"One of my aunts is a squib and she used to make it like this." Padma sprinkled something from a bottle Ron couldn't see the label of into the mixture, "I always think it's more fun this way."

"I don't know about more fun but that smell is certainly getting to me!"

Padma laughed at the hungry look on Ron's face.

"It's nearly done, I promise, could you find some mugs? I think Hannah keeps them in that cupboard."

She pointed towards a big oak cabinet with one foot whilst stirring the mystery ingredient in. Ron discovered that the cupboard contained what seemed to be hundreds of mugs, none of which seemed to match.

There were various Quidditch team logos, a few wizarding pop groups and a few non wizarding ones, one mug which proclaimed I LOVE CHOCOLATE in big letters and another that had a handle like a tiger's tail. Pulling out several and placing them on a tray to be filled.

Ron looked at the large number with surprise. "Why on earth do they need so many mugs?!" He shook his head. "There are only three of them living here!"

Padma started ladling the chocolate into the mugs, carefully but with a distinct shake in her hands as she tried not to laugh at Ron's wide eyed surprise.

"I don't think it's how many they need really, though they often seem to have guests round, it's more how many they have. Three people's mug collections, four if you include Susan and I think they've got most of hers. People like giving mugs as presents."

Ron shook his head in disbelief. "Crazy, completely bloody crazy!"

"Crazy or not it's true, you should see my collection! Now make yourself helpful and carry that tray through into the Sitting Room."

Picking up the full tray Ron tried very carefully not to spill any of the precious liquid, he knew what Ginny would say if her mug was less than full. Padma however didn't seem to be in a helpful mood, removing her own mug from the tray she flashed a wicked grin.

"Oh, by the way, King to F6, safe again."

She laughed and then, very quickly, leaned over and kissed him on the nose before rushing out of the kitchen leaving an astounded Ron desperately trying not to drop the whole tray.