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“You can't be serious,” Ron said, staring at his girlfriend. Luna had come home with a large case, opening it to display a collection of silver bells. “You're going to play all those?”
“I'm going to start a bell choir, silly,” she said. “I've already talked to your siblings and to the Potters. I'm going to have Freddy, Victoire, and Molly-Mae prepare something with me for the Potter’s Yule party!”
Ron tried not to make a face. He loved Luna more than anyone, sure, but he couldn't say he was confident in her musical abilities. As it was, the girl couldn't sing a lullaby without sounding like she was herding pigs.
“Don't you bring your negativity to this project!” Luna scolded, closing up the case. “The children will be coming over here this afternoon to start.”
And so they did a couple hours later. The three children were all five, so Ron figured that at least if they didn't get the hang of it, those are pretty cute ages to be bad at something.
Ron thought Luna must have had a sixth sense, because she turned to give him a sharp look before he even said anything.
“I was just standing here!” he insisted, throwing his hands up in surrender.
“It's just your attitude,” Luna assessed. “You can't stay here while we rehearse, of course.”
“What? Why not?” Ron questioned. “I live here!”
"Your negative energy is going to get all over the place!" Luna said. With a roll of his eyes and a brief goodbye to his girlfriend, nieces, and nephew, Ron was through the fireplace to Harry's.
“Alright, Ron?” Pansy asked when he made it through to what was, incidentally, her home office. Ron huffed, which seemed like explanation enough. “He's in the den with Dudley.”
Ron gave her a nod before going to mope with his best friend.
“What's gotten into you?” Dudley asked, raising an amused eyebrow. Ron sat down with another huff.
“Luna thinks I'm going to go and spread my negativity in her bell rehearsal,” he said.
“She's actually gone and gotten the bells, then, has she?” Harry asked, not bothering to hide his snickers.
“Laugh all you want, she's having our nieces and nephew perform with her.” Ron said, trying to get his point across. “And they're doing this little performance at the Burrow on Christmas Eve.”
“I'm sure it will be fine,” Harry waved Ron off, returning to whatever video game he and Dudley had been playing when Ron arrived.
“You lot are no help,” Ron mumbled, watching them play.
When the Potter Yule party came around, Ron was a little nervous. While he’d spent most of his life feeling like he didn’t get enough attention, everyone’s eyes on him really did unsettle him. He was nervous for Luna, even though nothing could embarrass her.
“Good luck,” he said to her as she parted from him to lead the children to the front of the room. He tried to take solace in the fact that they were surrounded by people who loved them.
When they started playing, though, what other people thought was the furthest from his mind. He wasn’t even particularly concerned with the way they sounded—he wouldn’t even remember if they had done well or done poorly by the time he got home that night.
Luna was the only person in the world to him in that moment. She was so good with the kids, and so sure of herself. She radiated the kind of positivity Ron wished he could feel constantly. He’d always known she was special, but watching her that night made her a permanent fixture in his brain. He didn’t understand how he’d even functioned before they were together. Ron was sure that without Luna, he had never felt as warm as he did at that Potter Yule party.
“You know, I really love you,” he said when she made her way back to him. The party loved it too, plenty of people stopping to tell her how much they enjoyed the song. She smiled up at him, taking one of his hands in hers.
“Changed your tune about the bells, eh?” she said. He grinned and placed a kiss on her forehead, pulling her into his embrace.