CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - THE FRENCH COAST

Ron and Claudia would next meet outside of her front door just two hours later. That was long enough for him to freshen up and collect his belongings. It was clear the moment Claudia had opened the door that she had not long been out of the shower, her damp hair being evident of this. The exhaustion of her all nighter was clear on her face but she still made the effort to give him a small smile upon inviting him in. 

Ron had only been in Claudia's two bedroom house a few times before. He could count on one hand how many times he had been in, three to be exact. And every time he came in he was enthralled by something new he had spotted. This time it was around the living room where he saw a collection of photos which had not been there before. And as he allowed Claudia to vanish back in the direction of her bedroom to continue getting ready, it was these photos that he headed to look at. Many of them seemed to focus a younger Claudia when she was likely still at school, with the familiar faces of her friends he was too getting to know. Then there was a collection of photos from the wedding they had attended a few weeks back. Ron looked over at them all, stopping for a moment when he saw a photo of just two people. Of them to be exact. He had forgotten that this photo even existed, he could recall many photos being taken that afternoon of which he had been asked to get in, but he didn't recall one of just the two of them. He thought that because there was a chance of things going wrong that she wouldn't have wanted the photo. But here it was, displayed for everyone else to see when they turned up to her house. And Ron wasn't sure what it was but the thought of that caused his pulse to quicken as a smile broke out upon his face. 

"Is everything okay Ronald?" Her voice broke out from the other side of the room, and he turned quickly to look at her. 

"You have a photo of us on the wall." His words were a statement not anything else and he waited for her response. When he got another smile back in response he could only question just how far he had come from. From never knowing what her true smile looked like, only the fake one she had put on around the workplace to make her look not as scary to now. Now when he got to see a real smile from her all the time.

"I do, I have another one if you'd like a copy. Tori dropped them off the other day." Claudia had approached him and seemed despite how tired she was to have perked up a little bit more since he had first knocked on the door. Her arms snaked around his midsection the moment she was close enough and Ron was quick to reciprocate the embrace. 

"I'd like that." He responded to her offer, before taking notice of the clock upon the wall. "We better head off to my parent's otherwise we'll miss the portkey." Ron concluded and Claudia stiffened a little, she hated travel by portkey especially in large groups. What they would be considering she had been informed that the grandchildren would also be in attendance. Claudia would meet Ron's nephews and nieces for the first time later that day and she was nervous for it. Not as nervous as she was to meet Molly Weasley again but close enough. 

"Okay, I'm all packed." Claudia confirmed before heading to grab her suitcase. "I don't see why we couldn't have gone by any other means of travel."

"It was cheaper." Ron shrugged though watched as Claudia looked back at him still with that look of distain upon her face. Maybe next time he would offer they get there themselves. 

The Burrow, located in Devon, was still a character house if Claudia had ever seen one. And at her second time at the property it remained still as daunting as ever. Though she allowed herself to be tugged into the property as Ron became more aware that they were cutting it close for time. Only to enter the house and see just how large the family was that she was surrounded by, and just how noisy. The complete opposite to everything she had been used to in her own childhood. Her childhood was not bad, but it was unlikely for many of the high society families to have more than two children and therefore gatherings were always much smaller. The fact that this was one family was scary. That was too many people.

Ron had caught onto the unease that Claudia was trying to hide from everyone else around them. So he tested giving their linked hands a single squeeze. The response took longer than it had prior but soon enough he got two back. Yet he was hesitant to believe her. Rather choosing to keep a close eye on her to make sure that she remained okay. Hoping that when they arrived at wherever they were supposed to be staying that she could sneak off for a nap and feel a little better afterwards. He caught the waving hand of his best friend who was stood off to one side a barely one year old clad in his arms. 

"You okay to meet some people?" Ron spoke lowly as he looked back at Claudia only to watch the woman nod back at him. And therefore, he headed in the direction of his best friend watching as Claudia soon clicked on to who he was bringing her to meet. 

"Claudia you've met Harry but this little man is baby James." Ron introduced and Claudia looked over at the little dark haired boy who at first was tightly cuddled into his dad's chest. 

"Why hello there James, I'm Claudia." She spoke watching as the baby lifted his head slightly.

"Don't tell anyone else but James is my favourite." Ron whispered, though it was purposely loud. 

"That's only because you're his godfather as well." It was the voice of Ginny which came crashing as the older woman came to join the little huddle. She took one look at Claudia giving her a curt nod "Claudia." in greeting. 

"Morning Ginevra." Claudia's words were not malicious in intent but she did enjoy watching the witches face scrunch at her full name. Before they could engage in any more conversation there was a wave from the middle of the living room as they were beckoned over. Suitcases left in one corner as they would be taken separately and Claudia looked at the choice of portkey to happily see that there were four or five little pamphlets. She let out a little sigh of relief at the sight knowing that they wouldn't all be travelling together in one large awkward pile. But as they were handed out by family she came to realise that with just her and Ron it was likely they were going to be bundled in with another group. Only when everyone else had set off to realise she would be travelling with the heads of the Weasley family.

"Oh my-" Claudia would mutter as she noted Arthur Weasley approach the pair of them. He had been rather accepting to Claudia and she supposed he had to be overly welcoming to offset the attitude of his wife. 

"We've got this don't worry." Ron whispered in her direction, this time it coming out as an actual whisper. Molly would finally join making the quarter complete but she would not say a single word only waiting until the pamphlet in her hand began to glow. Claudia went to hold onto one part of it as the familiar pulling motion she hated so much began to take over.

Claudia was only happy she had been forced to practice Port key landings multiple times growing up, for she could continue to show her unbothered nature in front of the matriarch of the Weasley family. Her perfected descent was mainly to keep up the heiress appearance but in this instance it was enough to annoy Molly who had noted many of her own children had been unsuccessful in securing the landing. Claudia could take it as a win. 

"Okay gather around kids." The voice of Arthur would take the attention of everyone as they had gathered. "I have your individual room keys here. You can take some time to settle down but I'd like to see everyone at dinner this evening." 

Claudia allowed Ron to go ahead and grab the room key for the pair of them as she went to hunt out their suitcases from the large pile of which had gathered. The place they were staying was a very large holiday home, but she supposed it needed to be considering the number of smaller families staying as part of a large one. The villa, as that was definitely what it was, was pretty nice and Claudia was trying her hardest to not fall into the upper class elitism she knew she could easily drop into. She knew the 10 days they had there would be more than satisfactory. 

She was also not surprised to find that they had the smallest room upon entering. Firstly they seemed to be the only 'couple' there that did not have children so the smaller size made sense. But Claudia also knew it was possibly in a slight snub towards her. But she would chose to ignore this and head for the more practical route rather than anything else. Rather she noted that it was plenty large enough for the two of them, there was a little seating area along with the bed and the ensuite she could see from behind its slightly ajar door. But she didn't want to focus too much on the room, all she could think on was about the bed and how desperately she needed sleep. 

"Go on Claude, don't worry about unpacking there will plenty of time for that later tonight go get some rest." Ron motioned towards the bed giving her a little nudge in the direction. Claudia reached down to pull off her shoes first before entering any further allowing Ron to place in the room key which would turn on the lights. She was quickly situated on the bed the softness urging her eyes to close.

"Come lay beside me." She would beckon first watching as no hesitation passed across Ron's face before he was beside her on top of the sheets. "You need a nap too, that chair couldn't have been that comfortable this morning."

"It wasn't that bad actually I'd give it a 6/10 will happily sleep upon it again. Next time you need me I'll be fast asleep on that chair, it's mine now." Ron replied and she just gave him a roll of her eyes in response turning onto her side so she could look at him properly. 

"Whatever you say Ronald." Her voice was sarcastic as she reached across to take one of his lax hands into her own. 

"Yeah yeah, stop trying to argue with me and get some rest." Ron chided before trying to even his own breath out a little more to see if she would mimic it. "I won't go anywhere."

"Promise you'll stay."

"I promise." Ron waited for her to say something else, but only listened out as she was soon out.