Title: Borrowed Heaven

Part: Prologue

Author: Cugami

Pair: Ron / Draco

Rating: PG

Disclaimers: All characters from Harry Potter aren't mine, though I wish.

Note: The rating is PG for now since I am still deciding whether I won't restrain any horrific and violent acts in the duration of the fic. "Borrowed Heaven" is inspired from the album title of The Corrs. I was just watching TV when the bloody words showed up on screen and it stuck in my abused brain for days before I relented and started writing. Not much in this chapter yet but yea, thanks for reading :D

To sweet beginnings and bitter endings

In coffee city, we borrowed heaven.

Summer Sunshine
by The Corrs

Wizard dictionaries were different from those of muggles with words written in columns and without the definitions. The wizard would have to ask for it. In a way, this was to show courtesy on the value of the book's knowledge and also an anti-muggle charm, so that someone who had no magic in their person would not be able to acquire the information.

It was an odd exercise Hermione had taught him when she was overwhelmed by his "mundane questions" in their second year. She mentioned that he had very poor vocabulary and this would be fun for him to learn something new everyday. He never found this "fun" to say the least but it had its interesting moments. For one, he never thought that "pipage" was a word and that it meant transportation. He remembered using "pipage" in conversations as much as possible the whole day, much to the annoyances of all his mates.

Ron stared at the thick volume in his hands and opened it to a random page. He closed his eyes and blindly pointed his index finger to any word.

"Tell me the meaning of this word," he then opened his eyes to see what new word he could add to his dull mind.

"Hea…" said the book but Ron had closed it and walked away, leaving a grumbling dictionary on top of the pile that stood as high as Ron's waist.

He should have known better than to waste time.

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Among the many things that the wizarding world had an advantage of over the muggle world was in the skill of espionage. Almost anything was possible, and what he was about to do was no exception. It was a spell that would recall the answer to the last question that was asked as long as the target could speak and was subdued. Not much to subdue in a charmed book though, "Refero." (1)

"Heaven," came the toneless reply, "--- usually plural, referring to the space surrounding or seeming to overarch the earth, in which the sun, moon, and stars appear; visible sky. B, any place of great beauty and pleasure; C, a state of great happiness; D…."

He slammed it shut and slipped it between two other volumes of enchanted dictionaries before it was able to completely narrate the definition of heaven and grumble louder at being interrupted for the second time. With a frown, Draco tilted his head and shifted his gaze to the direction from which the other occupant had left.

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Research was boring. Needless to say, Ron didn't like it and, personally, he knew Hermione would have done a much better job at this. Hermione wasn't around, however. She --along with the selected students from Ravenclaw and other houses-- was tasked to assist McGonaggall and a few other professors to outline a set of high level spells, curses and potions to be taught in the span of one week. Harry and a good half of their force, mostly Gryffindors, who had no qualms in dying or facing danger, were currently being trained by their previous and current Defense Against Dark Arts professors. Those not willing to fight were at the hospital wing, helping Pompfrey with the injured as well as being taught healing spells and potions.

The youngest lot of the student body could be found underground, where the thickest walls that served as foundation to the castle were. It was the safest place for the children. The castle could explode and shatter to pieces but the walls down there would not cave. Enough house elves and food were around to keep the young ones from starving for half a year and if need be, the house elves could apparate other supplies.

No doors were present to where they were and the only means of passage was apparating back and forth. Its safety lay on the fact that no one knew where this place was other than the staff and the house elves and one could not apparate to a place unless they knew how to get there. Hogwarts had wards that prevent apparating but Dumbledore weakened a few wards when they were transporting the students to a much safer place before returning the wards.

As for Ron, he was inside the library and skimming through piles and piles of books about wars he had never heard of from ancient period to the most recent with Voldemort --- Muggle wars included. Their scope of research had broadened from war to just about anything that could be of use in formulating a strategy. A few students were with him, mostly in seventh year, mostly Ravenclaws and the Slytherins he never thought he'd ever see working on the side of the Order.

It could be that he had always been biased about houses. He never saw Slytherin as anything else but bad news. It wasn't fair for them to be seen as such. "They didn't make it hard either," Ron countered himself defensively.

He was surprised to be included in this division. Truth of the matter, he expected to be in the front, along with Harry Potter. Could be that he wasn't good enough. It was more danger than help, come to think.

Nonetheless, in the following week, the students who weren't in shelters were to undergo a thorough training of spells they would all need to survive (and hopefully, win) a war. They weren't many but not exactly few and with a few hundred, the necessity of Hermione's task was obvious. There weren't enough teachers to do this.

Looking at the long tables inside the library and the clutter of books on each, Ron couldn't help but note that he had probably read more books in the last four days than all of his six years in Hogwarts combined.

He never truly felt the weight of the war until late. He was aware of Voldemort and the things the abomination had caused in his world but Ron had always been an outsider, even when his own best friend was in the heart of this war. In his younger years, it was yet another scary adventure and puzzle to be cracked with his closest and most trusted friends. The thought that they might die always sent a shiver of fear and panic in his conscious mind but in the end, it was still a game.

Funny. The name Voldemort was taboo and fear clouded his mind before he could utter the word. Ever since his fear was projected into anger, he said the name with enough venom that could rival the sound of a dementor's hiss. Next thing he knew, he'd have a spider for a pet. He shuddered at the prospect.

(1) Refero – latin for "repeat"