Chess

Chapter four: A New Start

The wedding itself was absolutely beautiful and, much to Ron's surprise, it went perfectly. There were no last minute tricks from the Twins, no last minute hysterics from his mother and none of the wizards had yet managed to let slip anything about magic or muggles or wars. Ron was sitting at the front, next to his mother on one side and George on the other.

Before the service started he looked around the church and saw Padma about half way back with a couple who must have been her parents. Ron had been horrified to realise that he had never actually met Padma's parents though she'd met Mr and Mrs Weasley hundreds of times. He recognised them vaguely as one of the sets of parents who used to wave the Hogwarts Express off each year but other than that he didn't know them at all. Mrs Patil he had learnt taught in the Infant school attached to the Nursery where Ginny worked so they had been invited along with their daughter.

As Ginny entered on her father's arm all eyes in the church turned to her. She looked stunning. As she moved slowly down the aisle Ron felt his heart swell with pride for his beautiful sister, though not without a tinge of sadness for the old plan where it would have been Harry waiting for her at the front. The way she and Dennis looked at each other when she reached him however destroyed any doubts he had, the love in their eyes was so strong.

In her place Padma was thinking almost the same thing. They made a lovely couple and nobody could doubt that they were meant to be together. Her mother had already started crying into her handkerchief and Padma could feel the tears welling up in her own eyes. Trying to stop the tears from falling she turned her gaze but it fell on Ron then and she was transfixed.

He looked so happy, so radiant, so proud of his little sister. She had thought he might find it hard watching Ginny marry someone else when they knew he had always planned her for Harry, she had been afraid this would yet again open old wounds, but all she could see on his face was happiness. She marvelled at his strength but as she was watching him he turned slightly and caught her eye and she looked down, blushing. As soon as she had done it she felt stupid, it was just Ron, why was she afraid to look at him?

The rest of the wedding ceremony passed in something of a blur for Padma, however hard she tried to concentrate on the words of the service all she could imagine was the look on Ron's face when he'd looked at her.

At the reception Ron was determined to introduce himself to Mr and Mrs Patil, still feeling slightly guilty that he'd never met them before. They were standing at one side of the room with Padma so he slowly made his way across to them, pausing several times as other guests stopped to talk to him.

"Padma, Mr and Mrs Patil, I hope you're enjoying yourselves." He sounded stilted and stupid even to himself but then he'd never been great at small talk or formal occasions.

"We're having a delightful time thank you. You must be Ronald Weasley, I don't believe we've been introduced." Mrs Patil ended her sentence with a glare at her daughter who looked embarrassed.

"I thought you knew him, he was in the same house as P..."

"Yes well, it's nice to meet you dear." Jumping in on the end of Padma's sentence Ron could tell Mrs Patil did not want Pavarti's name to be mentioned.

"Did your mother really organise all this?"Mrs Patil gestured to the room, "it must have been quite some undertaking."

Ron nodded. "She's been in charge of the wedding plans, the Burrow's been full of wedding food for days."

"She cooked the food as well? How strange, I'd have thought she would invite caterers in. My cousin runs a very good firm I could have recommenced to your sister if she'd asked."

Padma looked down at the floor and Ron swallowed awkwardly unsure of what to say.

"I think she enjoys it and Ginny's always loved home cooking."

Mrs Patil looked sceptical, "I suppose Mrs Creevy helped her as well, I was most surprised when Ginny told me she was having a muggle wedding."

"She organised the flowers in the church, but Mum was in charge of most of the reception as far as I know."

"Hmm." She looked thoughtful at that. "I've always thought that boy looked too scrawny. I hope your sister is going to feed him up. He looks as though the wind might blow him away!"

"Mother!"

Padma blushed even redder than before, she was horribly embarrassed by her mother, this was why she never introduced her friends to her parents.

"What? He's very thin, just like you are, you need to eat properly child!" Mrs Patil turned to Ron, "you think she'd look better if she was a little less bony don't you?"

"I think Padma looks lovely.." He started confidently but trailed away uncertain that this was the right answer. Mrs Patil scowled slightly but the slight smile from Padma reassured him. This conversation was a little too strange for his liking, or rather it was all too familiar.

Looking around the room Ron saw his chance of escape.

"It was nice talking to you Mrs Patil, I can see Lavender wants me over there though."

Lavender had in fact been watching the exchange between Ron and the Patils with great interest. As Ron approached her the look on his, extremely red, face made her burst into fits of giggles.

"Oh Ron, didn't you enjoy meeting the in-laws?"

This sentence ended in a squawk and Hannah Macmillan quickly apologised for accidentally treading on Lavender's foot. Ron just looked confused.

"No, the Creevys are over there, I was just talking to Padma's mum and dad. Bloody weird they are too."

That set Lavender off again and Seamus and Neville came over to enquire what exactly had got into her. Between giggles Lavender breathlessly explained.

"Ron... The Patils... Bloody weird... Oh Ron."

"That girl is completely insane" Ron threw up his hands in despair but just then Seamus caught on and started giggling too.

Neville was smiling wickedly too, but at least he wasn't laughing, so Ron demanded an explanation.

"She didn't seem at all... at all familiar? Didn't remind you of anyone?"

"Mrs Patil?" Ron looked bemused. "Nope, she's not a bit like Padma. Well they're both a bit bossy but really..." He trailed off in confusion and Neville just smiled wider.

"Let me guess what she said." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "She probably criticised the wedding, suggested someone in her family could have done better, embarrassed Padma and then told you someone needed fattening up. Who does that sound like to you?"

Ron shook his head, the whole lot of them had flipped! As he turned his head however he noticed something. Over on the far side of the room his mother was fussing with Ginny's hair, from the look on Gin's face she wasn't too pleased with her mother's attentions, Molly had been telling her to grow it out for the wedding for months.

As he looked back across to the Patils he could see Padma grimace as her mother tucked a stray lock behind her daughter's ear and remonstrate with her about something.

He stood and looked from one scene to the other until he was brought back to his surroundings by the sound of hysterical laugher.

By now Hannah and Ernie had joined in the amusement too and the look on Ron's face was just priceless.

"Bloody Hell! It's like two of my Mum. Bloody Hell!"

"Imagine the two of them together, the combined forces of Mrs Patil and Mrs Weasley." Seamus' voice trembled with laughter even as he tried to look scared.

"I'd be more frightened of setting them up against each other. Who'd win that argument?" Lavender had by now managed to recover herself just about enough to speak in full sentences but she was still breathless.

Ron was still looking shocked and terrified, he had this image of the pair of them facing up to each other over organising the catering for a wedding.

"What's so funny?" Padma's confused voice cut through his thoughts and, if it was possible to go any redder than he already was, Ron blushed.

"Nothing, they've all gone mad. The lot of them." He took her arm. "Let's leave this lot of hyenas and go find some food."

As the pair of them walked off Lavender dissolved into giggles again and had to be held up by Hannah. Seamus had the last word however.

"Bags me front seats at THEIR wedding."

***

The Grand Opening of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes new store in Diagon Alley looked like it was going to be the event of the year, if not the decade. A whole section of the Alley was going to be turned into a venue for a ball with warming charms and decorations and the latest hit sensation, The Charms had been booked to play. It was going to be a fantastic night of fun culminating in fireworks and the midnight opening of the new store.

That was the official line anyway. Everyone who actually knew the twins was expecting fireworks of quite another type.

The Hogsmeade shop had been doing a roaring trade, as had the mail order business they ran from the back of the shop, but Fred and George had finally found a property in Diagon Alley they were happy with and had snapped it up.

The plan was for George to run the London branch with the help of Lee Jordan whilst Fred continued in Hogsmeade with Ron. Some had expressed doubts that the twins would cope apart but, as Ron had pointed out, it was hardly difficult to Floo or apparate between the two locations. Anyway, poor Angelina deserved a break from living with both twins before her own twins arrived. Molly's excitement at the impending grandchildren had almost made up for Fred and Angelina's unwillingness to actually set a date for their wedding.

Ron was completely tied up in arrangements for the new store's opening. The twins themselves had been locked in their laboratory for weeks devising "surprises" for the party so that Ron had been left with most of the practicalities.

He complained to anyone who would listen that they were overworking him and that he was just going to walk out one day. Nobody listened. Everyone could see that Ron was happier than he had been since Hogwarts days, he was busy, wanted and had Padma dropping in every evening on her way home from work. In fact most of their friends were becoming sick of waiting for the penny to finally drop between the pair.

***

"Ronald Weasley will you sit still for five seconds and talk to me!" Lavender's tone was sufficiently exasperated to make Ron finally pay attention. He put his pile of papers down and came and sat down next to Lavender.

"You know this is supposed to be the weekend. When you rest. You know, actually stop working."

Ron shook his head. "That's all very well but the ball's in less than two weeks and if I don't sort out these Ministry forms we'll have no location for the party and I've still got to approve The Charms' set list."

Shaking her head in disbelief Lavender pressed a cup of tea into Ron's hands.

"You do realise that you're actually starting to sound like a cross between Hermione and your mother don't you." She waved away his protests and continued, "it's terribly rude to ignore a guest like this anyway."

Busy though he was Ron recognised the truth in Lavender's words and apologised with a grin. "Well I'm awfully sorry Miss Brown. My manners must be appalling. What would you like to talk about, I believe we've been having unusually fine weather recently."

The cushion Lavender threw luckily missed Ron's tea by an inch.

"Ungrateful boy. Anyone would think you didn't want visitors." She scowled at him. "I have in fact come on a very serious errand."

Something about her face stopped Ron from either laughing or teasing her. Though Lavender had calmed down considerably since her schoolgirl days and no longer giggled quite as much it was unusual enough for her to actually be serious that he started paying attention.

"Go on Lav, I'm sorry, I'll try and listen properly."

He glanced across at the huge pile of paper on the desk, and the coffee table, and the other armchair but then back to Lavender, determined to at least try and give her a chance.

She sighed deeply. "I had a little speech prepared but you've made me completely forget it. You never did know how to be serious."

She muttered something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like "Uranus indeed" and Ron went an unfortunate shade of red, when it came to Weasley's all shades of red were unfortunate really.

"I don't even know where to start... I suppose with Parvati," she paused slightly after the name and fiddled with one of her bangles. "I knew her for long enough to know that she would be supremely unimpressed with the way you've been acting recently and, well, as she isn't here to complain herself I guess it's up to me."

Ron shifted uneasily, he had no idea what Lavender was on about but if she was willingly bringing up Parvati and her absence then it obviously was important to her.

"What... Sorry Lavender, my behaviour? I can't think of anything I've done lately that would have upset Parvati if she'd been here," he paused, he had of course been being very rude about the latest set of horoscopes in the Daily Prophet that Trelawney now wrote but Lavender couldn't know about that and she wouldn't be so serious about it either. She'd just have shouted at him.

"Wouldn't Padma have told me if it was so bad?"

"Well that, I believe, is the problem. Padma."

Ron tried to look completely baffled but even someone as dense as he could be had started to pick up on some of his friend's hints.

"Don't pretend you don't understand Weasley. As embarrassing as I'm sure this is for both of us it is my duty, in 'Vati's place, to ask you what your intentions are towards Padma."

She sat back and glared at him until Ron wished the sofa would open up and swallow him.

"What do you want me to say?" He sounded defensive at first, "she's my friend, I like spending time with her. I'd certainly never do anything to hurt her or upset her and I don't see what business it is of yours anyway."

"Oh don't you!" Lavender snapped. "I told you, I'm doing this solely because my best friend, Padma's sister, isn't here to do it and anyway I'm friends with Padma and I'm friends with you and if you don't get your act together soon then it might be too late."

She got up with a flounce and stomped towards the door.

"Too late?!" Ron's voice was angry still and she didn't feel like being nice to the stubborn idiot.

"Zacherias Smith's asking her to the ball, he's been interested in her for years and he reckons it's finally his chance. He's probably right too, he can be very romantic when he puts his mind to it."

"WHAT! That bloody Hufflepuff PRAT is asking PADMA to the ball!?!" Ron was on his feet in a moment, storming up and down the length of his tiny living room. "What does he think he's doing? He's not good enough for her. Bloody blond pillock. She wouldn't go with him." One glance at the look on Lavender's face and all the defiance went out of Ron's words. "She couldn't. Could she?"

His voice trailed off and he sat down again heavily. He looked so despondent that Lavender took pity on him and came and sat beside him.

"I don't know Ron, she might. After all she hasn't got anyone else to take her."

"She's got me!" Ron jumped in over Lavender. "I'll take her."

Lavender shook her head sadly. "Have you told her that? Have you actually asked her to the ball Ron?" She smiled faintly at a distant memory. "It'll be the Yule Ball all over again if you don't."

Ron was completely still for a moment, processing what she'd just told him. The idea of Smith taking his Padma to the ball made him feel sick. Who did he think he was? And what did she mean the Yule Ball all over again. Suddenly Ron's thoughts tripped over themselves. My Padma.

"I forgot she was a girl..."

Lavender had to forcibly restrain herself from laughing at that, Padma was a beautiful woman and only Ron Weasley could forget that fact but he looked so serious she hadn't the heart to tease him.

"You know what you're going to do then?"

He took a deep breath. "I guess I do."

***

Padma was surprised to find Ron waiting outside the Diagon Alley exit of the Ministry on the following Monday. He was holding something behind his back and was looking distinctly nervous.

"Something wrong?"

Her voice startled Ron out of his reverie and he smiled at her. "Nothing at all. Just thought you might want some lunch."

"Sounds lovely," she looked at him suspiciously. "Why did you come all the way down to London for lunch?"

Inwardly Ron cursed himself for getting involved with suspicious women. "I thought we could have lunch together... I... Well I wanted to ask you something."

At this Padma became seriously worried, Ron had long since stopped being shy around her and he seemed very unwilling to ask whatever it was. She moved over to a bench and sat down.

"Go on then, I'll never eat whilst I'm curious."

Ron shook himself and sat down next to her. "Iwaswonderingifyou'dcomewithmetotheballnextweekend."

"Excuse me?" Ron had gone bright red, though whether from embarrassment or lack of oxygen she was unsure.

He took a deep breath and started again. "I was wondering if you, Padma Patil, would go with me to the ball next weekend."

She felt her breath catch in her throat and thanked any listening gods that her own complexion hid her blushes.

"Of course I will you idiot, why all the big fuss?" She smiled, reassuringly she hoped, "I thought I'd come and help you all set up anyway."

Ron shook his head and produced a bunch of, slightly wilting, roses from behind his back.

"Not to come and help, not as a friend, I meant..." He trailed off slightly uncertain of himself but remembered Hermione's scorn at not being asked and Lavender's words about Zacherias Smith and tried again.

"Will you come to the ball with me as a date?"

Padma couldn't decide whether to laugh at Ron for the ridiculousness of the situation or shout for joy. She settled for smiling again and taking the flowers.

"Yes, I'd love to."

Ron's worried face broke into a broad grin and he hugged her impulsively.

"Careful!" Padma returned the hug but pulled back quickly. "These flowers have been through enough already it looks like."

"Sorry about that, turns out it's not a great idea to take flowers by Floo."

She laughed at him and then got up and pulled him up too.

"Well what about this lunch you offered me?"

He offered her his arm and they wondered towards a nearby sandwich shop.

Much later Padma looked at the card attached to the flowers.

"Castle/King swap Check. I'll pick you up at eight"

***

A week later Padma was getting ready for the ball when she caught sight of herself in the mirror. She'd never been a vain person, or really interested in her appearance at all, that had always been Parvati.

The dress she had chosen for the night was a deep midnight blue with a long, full skirt. It had two slits up her legs to allow for dancing and it was cut low across her back. She'd never really worn anything quite so daring before and looking at her reflection she thought for a moment that she was looking at her sister.

"Do you approve 'Vati?" she whispered under her breath.

She sat in silence for a moment staring into the mirror, waiting for a response that was never going to come. Parvati wouldn't have approved of the colour of course, she'd probably have had something to say about her hair too which was swept off her head in a loose knot rather than the fancy styles Parvati had preferred. The debates they'd had before the Yule Ball came flooding back to Padma.

Debates? Well they were more like arguments as far as she remembered. Parvati had been insistent that Padma dress up and make an effort and not ruin her, Parvati's one chance with Harry Potter. Padma laughed at the memory, she'd never really had a chance with that boy of course, completely fixated on Cho as he was. Not that Cho had had much luck either.

Padma hadn't really been bothered about attending with Ron back then but now she could feel the butterflies in her stomach and she had to forcibly remind herself that it was just Ron.

Just Ron? Then why are you wearing the eyeshadow I picked out for you and Grandma's opal necklace?

Parvati's laughing voice came into her head and Padma smiled.

"Because I'm an idiot, he'll never notice anyway."

Padma thought she could almost see Parvati smile at that, and nod of course.

You chose the boy.

"I suppose I did."

She sat up straighter and checked her make up for the last time as she heard the door bell ring. As she walked out of the door she turned back to the mirror for a moment.

"Thanks sis'."

Then, feeling slightly self conscious for talking to herself she walked out of the door and kissed a surprised Ron on the cheek before letting him take her arm and lead her to the special Floo point set up from Hogsmeade to the party.

"Wow."

As she stepped out of the Floo into Diagon Alley Padma's eyes widened at the sight before her. She was still staring in amazement when Ron stumbled out of the fireplace and nearly knocked her over.

"Sorry!" he apologised and tried to brush the soot he'd just got on her off but she just laughed.

"Come on, it looks amazing out there." She took his arm, "show me what it is you've been working so hard on."

He had been working hard, as had a whole host of others, and the street looked fantastic. All of the buildings within the area had lights in their windows and strung between their roofs. To increase the lighting, but keep the atmosphere of evening, fairies had also been employed to flit around the space. There was a large area cleared for a dance floor at one side with a stage large enough for a very large band.

As they arrived, however, a string quartet were providing the music and the notes carried through the air by means of careful amplification charms. There were tables and chairs set around the edges as well as tables displaying some of WWW's finest merchandise as well as photographs of some of them in action. Waiters stood ready with trays of drinks, a mixture of humans and house elves Padma noticed as one ran up to Ron.

"Mr Wheezy! Mr Wheezy! Sir must come at once!"

With a start Padma realised that it was none other than Dobby.

"What's happened? Everything was fine when I left! Don't tell me someone's set off the security charms?!" Ron looked so exasperated Padma nearly laughed, he'd told her on the way about the complex charms set up to keep out gatecrashers which seemed a little temperamental.

"Not the charms." Dobby tugged at Ron's sleeve, "Dobby can't find the cases of champagne. Mr Wheezy must come and see!"

Throwing up his hands in despair Ron turned apologetically to Padma. "I'm so sorry, I'll have to go and find out what's wrong."

"That's alright, I'll stay here and listen to the music." She smiled reassuringly at him and then turned to Dobby. "Send him right back to me when he's finished please Dobby."

Dobby bowed to her and dragged Ron off leaving Padma alone.

Long before Ron returned she had been found by several acquaintances. Seamus had arrived wearing a suit in the most amazing shade of green and had promptly started waltzing round the dance floor with Lavender Brown. Ginny and Dennis were having a discussion with Ernie and Hannah about something very important which left Padma with Justin and Neville.

The three of them were catching up on gossip whilst trying very hard not to giggle at the contrast between Seamus' green suit and Lavender's almost orange dress. When Ron finally did appear, with Lee Jordan in tow, all thoughts of embarrassment had flown from Padma's mind.

"What is Seamus wearing!?"

"He says it's St Patrick's Day and if he's not allowed to celebrate it with his muggle mates then he's going to let all the wizarding world know." Neville sighed, he suspected he would be repeating the explanation a lot that night. Padma patted his arm.

"Don't worry Neville, I'm sure after a few drinks he'll tell everyone the reasons himself."

"That's what I'm afraid of!" Neville threw up his hands in horror at the idea.

Taking pity on him and changing the subject Padma turned to Ron. "Crisis averted? You found the cases?"

"Sort of," he rolled his eyes. "Lee found them actually, Fred and George had them. I think they'd been planning some trick with them but we've convinced them that spelled champagne is not a good idea. I'd keep away from the punch though if I was you."

"Thanks for the tip!" Padma laughed. "It looks like it's going to be a night to remember!"

By the time the ball was well underway Ron was wondering why it had been so hard to ask Padma anyway. Walking up to her door had been one of the hardest things he'd ever done and yet it wasn't as if it was any different to dinner or any of the other parties they went to. All their friends were there and it was just another night out.

When he said this to Lavender however she looked at him disgustedly and walked off leaving Ron looking completely bemused.

"I think perhaps, little brother, she feels it shouldn't be like any other night." George's voice startled Ron slightly as he appeared from behind.

"What do you mean? Of course it's not like any other night. I spent long enough organising it to know that!"

George shook his head sadly, "Ronald, I do believe you've slightly missed the point."

Seeing that Ron still looked confused George place an arm around his shoulders and attempted to explain.

"I may not be the world's expert in making romances last but what I do know is that when you invite a girl to a ball she expects you to spend at least some time with her."

"But I have been, right up until a moment ago when I had to go and make sure the tables were being cleared for midnight..."

"Yes, and you've been like that all night! I've been watching, you never spend more than five minutes in one place and you haven't been alone with her since you arrived."

Ron shook his brother's arm off and turned to face him. "Well of course not, we're in the middle of a ball, how could we be alone."

George didn't say anything but instead motioned towards the dance floor where Ginny and Dennis could be seen dancing closely, unaware of the rest of the world. He then pointed out Percy and Penny who were sitting, hand in hand, talking quietly and then to Neville who had finally got Seamus to stand still, watching a group of dancing fairy lights.

"I... I should ask her to dance you mean?"

Finally George gave up being subtle. "Yes you bloody prat you should. In fact you should have done already. Look where she is now!"

Scanning the room for Padma he soon found her, her back was towards him and the lights were gleaming in her hair but that wasn't what attracted his attention, what Ron saw first was that she was talking to Zacherias.

***

"Excuse me, I've come to claim my date."

Ron tapped Zacherias on the shoulder and took hold of Padma's arm gently. She smiled at him and said goodbye to Zacherias who looked distinctly annoyed. As they walked towards the dance floor Padma leant into Ron's arm.

"Thank you!" she sighed. "I've been trying to escape him for ages, where were you?"

"Just somewhere being a prat as always." Ron grinned at her, "however now I'm here, would you dance with me Miss Patil."

"Why certainly Mr Weasley, I'd be delighted."

As he took her in his arms Ron suddenly became nervous again.

"I'm not exactly good at this I'm afraid, perhaps you should have stuck with another partner."

Padma shook her head. "Don't be silly. You'll be fine if you just relax."

Taking a deep breath Ron tried to do just that but couldn't make his legs do what he wanted them to.

"Try thinking about something else," she racked her brains for a subject to distract him with. "Chess for instance. King to E5 means I'm on the run again."

"You're getting good at running." Ron smiled looked up, immediately relaxing, "I believe you can't run forever though!"

Unfortunately as soon as he stopped talking he tensed up again and by the time he had trodden on her feet for the fourth time they were both tense. He pulled away from her, looking unhappily towards where Zacherias Smith was leading Megan Jones around the floor.

"This is stupid. You need a more graceful partner, I said so."

"Ron!" Padma's voice was determined and made him look at her. "You're my partner and if you don't want to dance we can go and stand somewhere and watch. I'll be just as happy."

Ron tried to smile but didn't quite manage it. All the same he led her across the room to a quiet corner where they stood in companionable silence watching the crowds.

"Sorry I'm being so useless tonight."Ron's eyes were fixed on the crowds. "I wanted everything to be perfect for you and I just don't seem to be able to get it right."

Padma started to protest but he turned to face her and stopped her mouth with a finger.

"No, let me say this." He took a deep breath and looked at her. "When I came to get you I thought I'd never seen anything more beautiful, your dress, your necklace, the way you've tied up your hair, it's all wonderful. Even that eye shadow is the perfect colour but I never said anything I just talked about security charms. Then I nearly knocked you over as we arrived, after which I deserted you and all evening I've been rushing around all over the place. I wanted everything to be right for you but instead I've ended up everywhere except with you. I'm not very good at telling people how I feel but I should have at least been able to ask you to dance and then not tread on your toes."

His hand came up, almost involuntarily, and stroked her cheek.

"I wanted to make everything perfect for you, to show you how much you mean to me and how much I would have hated it if you'd come with someone else but it's stupid because however much I try I'll never be worthy of you. You deserve the best Padma Patil. The very best."

Padma's mind was whirling with his words. She didn't know if she was more surprised by the look in his eyes, or the fact that he'd noticed her eye shadow or the way his hand felt so right against her skin. She reached up to cover his hand with her own and tried to reply.

"But Ron..."

"Padma! Ron! There you are!"

Suddenly Seamus was upon them and full of energy. "Come on! I'm going to teach everyone a dance"

They let themselves be dragged away but for the rest of the evening all Padma could think about was the way Ron had looked at her.

They danced and they chatted with their friends. They oohed and ahhed the fireworks, and laughed as they saw some of the originals from back in the days of Umbridge.

One lot of punch turned out to contain something that changed everyone's hair colour and another brought everyone who drank it out in star shaped spots. For once wanting to look nice Padma was glad she had avoided it. It was a magical evening.