Title: I Though You Loved Sweaters
Ship: Ron/Luna
Name/Pen Name: Kristina/Sakura1287
Word Count: 1,659
Theme #/Theme: The Wardrobe
Challenge count: 1/7 Finished

Content: PG
Spoilers: Books 1-5
Warnings: None
Summary: Ron and Luna get their Christmas picture taken.


“Ronald, we’re going to be late!”

Luna Lovegood was standing patiently beside the fireplace in their tiny one
bedroom apartment, braiding and unbraiding her long blonde hair while waiting for Ron, who had only just dragged himself out of bed and into the shower.

“I can’t find my shoes anywhere!” a muffled voice shouted from deep inside the closet.

“They wont be able to see your feet in the picture,” Luna called back.

“That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t wear any shoes!”

He emerged from the closet a few moments later, clad only in a towel wrapped loosely around his waist. A pair of dingy old shoes dangled from his hand. A pair of Luna’s dingy old shoes. He sighed. “Can you make these a few sizes bigger for me? I’ll just have to borrow yours.”

Luna giggled slightly, and left her post at the fireplace. “Of course.” She paused for a moment, glancing down at his towel. “That’s not what you’re wearing in the picture, is it?”

Exasperated, he rolled his eyes, tossed her the shoes, and dashed into the bedroom. There was a rumpled pair of jeans on the floor. Perfect. He pulled them on. Then he yanked open the top drawer of his dresser and pulled out the first shirt he saw. On second thought, this was going to be their Christmas card. And Luna was excited about it. He tossed the shirt on the floor, and pulled out the second one. There, he’d put some thought into it.

Luna was waiting by the fireplace again when he exited the bedroom, now-larger shoes in her hand. He tried not to look at them as he slipped them onto his feet.

“Ready?” Luna asked, patting her bag absently while doing a mental check to make sure she’d grabbed everything she needed.

Ron nodded, and caught her staring at him, smiling, wide-eyed.

“What?” he asked.

“Your hair is wet.”

“Oh,” he replied sheepishly, only now noticing the droplets running down his forehead. He started to shake his sopping red locks, but she stopped him by placing her cool palm directly on the top of his head. His hair was immediately dry.

“When did you get so good at that?” Ron asked her, running his fingers through his hair to ensure it was just the right amount of messy.

“Drying hair?”

“No, wordless magic.”

“Oh, you know. Here and there.” She reached up above the fireplace and grabbed a handful of Floo Powder, turning back to dump half in Ron’s hand. She stepped inside the fireplace and smiled at Ron.

“Purdy Pennyworth’s Pulchritudinous Portraits!”

Ron’s jaw dropped. “Pulchri- what! Luna!”

She started spinning, a jumble of green light and soot flying about the fireplace.

“No, seriously Luna, come back! I am never going to find this place if you –“

A hand reached out of the mess and gripped his arm tightly, pulling him off his feet and into the fireplace.

A moment later, Ron fell, coughing and sputtering and completely covered in black ashes, onto the floor of an incredibly frilly, spotless photo studio. Luna walked calmly out behind him, carefully brushing a trace of soot from her skirt.

She offered her hand, which Ron took grudgingly, and she pulled him up beside her.

Just then a man dressed in tight black pants and a purple turtleneck sweater walked up and took up Luna’s hand. “Luna Lovegood?” he asked, waiting for her to nod before bending down and kissing it lightly on the knuckles.

“How do you do,” Luna said evenly.

Ron scowled loudly and Luna elbowed him slightly in the ribs.

“I hope we’re not late,” she said. “Ron was still naked only five minutes ago.”

Ron blushed and cleared his throat, never completely growing used to Luna’s complete disregard for privacy.

“Well, as I can see, the clothes he’s chosen are not serving him well… I can show you to the dressing room to clean up.” Purdy took this opportunity to take Luna’s hand again, and led them to a small room blocked off by a heavy purple curtain; the same shade of his sweater.

Ron was glaring at Purdy with all his might, but the photographer took no notice.

“I don’t have anyone else schedule for at least an hour so please take your time!”

Luna motioned for Ron to come inside the dressing room, and he whipped the curtains shut.

“That guy totally fancies you,” Ron accused, looking in the mirror to find that his previously soft and dry hair was now a dark shade of black. He shook his head, spraying soot all over the room. “I don’t understand why we couldn’t have just asked Creevey to come over and snap a picture for our Christmas card.”

“Purdy is a friend of my Dad’s. I made an appointment, Ronald. He was just being nice.”

“Too nice. Luna, I can’t wear this shirt now, look at it.”

Her eyes lit up as she grinned and began digging through her bag. “That’s perfectly alright because I brought you something else to wear!”

“Oh, well all right,” Ron said, peeling the blackened shirt off of himself and throwing it absently on the floor.

Luna was still digging around in her bag; her arms definitely seemed to be reaching much deeper than the bag actually was. She began tossing objects of varying weirdness out on to the floor. A kettle, which Ron knew she always kept at hand because if she were to stumble across a wringolump, the only way to get rid of them was to boil them. A plastic baggie of jellybeans; because they are nargles favorite snacks. A bag of sugar quills, because Luna enjoyed them. And a small cactus plant, to which Ron could only guess what its use was.

“Aha!” Luna cried, finally pulling something rather bulky out of the bag, wrapped in black tissue paper. “This is for you.”

Ron grinned. “A gift? That’s so sweet of you Lu – what the bloody hell is this?” Ron let the present drop to the floor as he jumped back in fright.
Luna’s face fell. “It’s a sweater, Ronald.”

For a moment, Ron didn’t say anything.

The so-called sweater lie in a heap at his feet. It was made of the fluffiest material Ron had ever seen, in the most putrid shade of pink he could imagine. There was an unidentifiable bright blue shape on it, which seemed to have been enchanted to glow. He kicked it slightly with his foot, unwilling to touch it but curious as to what was on the front.

“Luna, what is on this sweater?”

Her eyes lit up as she began to explain. “Well, it’s one half of the giant squid. Mine has the other half. When we stand next to each other, you’ll be able to see the whole thing. I knitted them.”

Ron just stared at her, mouth hanging open unattractively. “Why in Merlin’s name would we want a Giant Squid across our fronts?”

“Well, Ronald, my Dad warned me before coming here that Mifflehops sometimes hide in the lenses of cameras. But if there are any in Purdy’s camera, they’ll leave us alone because they are absolutely terrified of the giant squid. Did you ever wonder why you never saw one down by the lake at Hogwarts?”

Ron sighed. “No, I can’t say that I have.”

“Good! Then put this on,” Luna instructed, picking the sweater up gingerly and pushing it into Ron’s hands.

He recoiled slightly. “You can’t possibly expect me to wear that.”

“I thought you loved sweaters.”

Just the word sweater itself made Ron’s face flush a little bit. “What on Earth would possibly make you believe that I loved sweaters?!”

She didn’t blink. “You have an entire drawer of them at home in the bedroom.”

“Have you ever seen me wear one, Luna?”

She didn’t miss a beat. “No.”

“If you’ve never seen me wear one, then why would I love sweaters?”

“I thought you were saving them for very special occasions.”

“What kind of special occasion calls for a bright orange and pink sweater with a big bloody ‘R’ on the front!?” Ron shouted, red to the very tips of his ears now.

Luna never fought with him. She instead patted him on the arm, and began to fold the sweater neatly. “We don’t have to wear them. I was just trying to protect you from a Mifflehop bite. And I thought it would be nice if we matched.”

Ron immediately felt awful for shouting. It was obvious she put a lot of thought into this. Against every ounce of his better judgment, he took the sweater out of her hands, and hiding his grimace, pulled it on over his head. Luna followed suite and put hers on too.

“So you’re sure I wont get a Hifflewhomp bite if I wear this?” he asked, mentally crossing certain people off the list that would receive Christmas cards this year.

Luna ignored his mistake and nodded.

He put his arm around her and turned to look in the mirror. Their sides lined up perfectly, and sure enough, there was the bright blue glowing Giant Squid in all its glory. “Happy Christmas from Ron, Luna, and the Giant Squid,” he said sarcastically into the mirror.

Luna giggled, and Ron kissed her lightly on the tip of her nose before throwing open the curtain. “Purdy, let’s get this over with!”

The fanatical photographer swooped down and pulled the couple over to the backdrop, positioning them directly above a red x that was spell-o-taped onto the floor.

“I’ll count to three and then you lovebirds smile.” His gazed dropped down to Ron’s feet. “Nice shoes,” he commented very seriously before leaning down to look through the viewfinder. “All right, one, two..”

Ron turned an intense shade of red just as the camera flashed before them.

This was going to be a Christmas no one would forget.

HAHAHAHAHA.

Tina, this is so hilarious. I love their interactions and your Luna is just the right amount of insane.

Tina, that was BRILLIANT AND OMG, I LOVE LUNA AND EVERYTHING SHE KEEPS IN HER BAG.


That is so like Luna to say that to someone.

I love Ron. And I love him even more with Luna- because I love how he acts around her... and *sniff*, I love when Ron's blowing up at her, she just pats him on the back and says she thought it would be nice if they matched.

I'm not really one to leave reviews, as I never have anything helpful to say (and still don't) but this was just fantastic! I could just see it happening. Your Luna is perfect.

I thought you captured Luna and Ron perfectly! Luna was just that little bit "off her rocker", but calm and collected. Ron was a bit scatter brained and easily embarrassed.

My favorite line was:

"...mentally crossing certain people off the list that would receive Christmas cards this year"

Too funny.

My only 2 small, tiny bit of criticism, because I am an awful, canon stickler, is I wish you would have said "Non-verbal magic" instead of "wordless magic".

Also, you said Ron had just gotten in the shower, but the next line finds him digging for shoes in the closet. I know, I am WAY too picky...

Other than that, I loved it! Funny and adorable.

This is my favourite ficlet so far.

Great characterisation. Luna - doesn't have the trademark dreamy quality plastered over her face. Also, you haven't just written random responses from her. She just sees things from a different perspective and her responses just have a comic timing to it.

“They wont be able to see your feet in the picture,” Luna called back.

Ron - he seems to be pulled straight out of canon, we can definately see he is the little bro of Fred and George. Luna flusters him and its pretty funny, yet we see he cares for her.

Accio Harry! seems to describe them best.

Maybe "wordless" is a Ron thing?

Poor Ron, if the twins ever get their hands on a copy from "Ron, Luna and the Giant squid."

Great fic. I give it a 4/5.

Thia was very, very funny and very, very enjoyable.

The aliteration of the photographers shop was perfectly canon and your characterisations were excellent. I like this ficlet a lot

I really enjoyed it. Keep up the fantastic work! I love the fact that the sweaters are pink, that just made the whole thing funny. Great job!

WOW this one had Ron and Luna totally in character and interacting perfectly. Very hillarious. "Ron was still naked only 5 minutes ago" ROFL!

This was really cute. I loved it. Lovely job. I loved the charecterization of Luna nad the interaction between Ron and Luna.