THE NEW HEAVEN AND EARTH | RON WEASLEY [BOOK FIVE]

1999

WEDNESDAY 23rd of JUNE, 1999

"Cheers!"

Four glasses of Firewhiskey collided, with nearly half of each glass tipping over the lip of the shot glasses.

Gene was on her sixth, Harry on his third, Ron on his fifth and Hermione on her second; each taking the opportunity to prove their alcohol intake was much better than it had been during their teenage years.

They were in the flat in London, with Aurelia having moved out at the beginning of the school year, leaving the flat to Gene and Harry as a birthday present. It only made sense for her to do so, considering Aurelia's birthday present was the house in Godric's Hollow.

She always did like to one-up Gene.

Last year, when the Second Wizarding War had finally ended, Aurelia Fiordalis became Aurelia Benton, on a fine, summers day, in the garden of Cordelia's Cottage. Thus came the idea for Gene's wedding gift which was followed by a lot of celebrating, which called for a lot of drinking, obviously.

So, the little flat in London became Gene and Harry's. He had finally moved into the room at the end of the hall, the one they had prepared for him ever since second year. Only now, it was a little outdated in its decor, but Harry soon fixed it up in no time.

Gene and Harry were flatmates now, living together perfectly contented, as they couldn't quite imagine spending more than a week without one another. Sometimes, they would stay at The Burrow but the rest of the time, Ron and Ginny would stay with them, both couples still going strong.

They always hosted dinner parties on the weekend, whenever they could, having all of their friends and family over as often as possible, despite the little flat still being quite little. They all made do, though. Andromeda in particular loved coming over on the weekends with Teddy, who took a great liking Gene and Harry, to their utter relief.

Fred and George almost spent more time at their flat than their own, above Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, though Gene couldn't have told you why. She sometimes thought it was so that they could catch a glimpse of Aurelia, in case she happened to visit when they did.

The twins had never been good influences, but a lot more celebration went on whenever they came by. And by celebration, she meant drinking.

Gene and Ron weren't unfamiliar with celebration at this point though. They had done lots of celebrating themselves, seemingly making it their mission to do so in every room in the flat, except Harry's, out of respect. At least, for the time being.

Hermione and Finn came by when they could, though Hermione was just as busy as Gene was at times. Ron and Finn got on as though they had been good friends from the very beginning, which made both Gene and Hermione extremely happy.

Gene, of course, took great pleasure in having them all stay over. Truthfully, she couldn't quite bear the fact that they could all be growing apart now. They didn't have to spend time together anymore. They wouldn't have to go to class together or grab lunch together in the Great Hall if they could. It was all very daunting.

But, with each visit and each celebration, she found herself slowly coming to terms with the fact that they hadn't grown apart, but they were just growing up.

And who was to say that they couldn't do that together, either?

However, the cause for celebration on this particular day, was the graduation of Gene and Hermione from Hogwarts. They had completed their seventh-year the week prior, having received their N.E.W.T. results that morning.