This is -kinda- a sequel to "Cards", it happens after it, but you can definitely read this without reading that one.
Post Deathly Hallows, a day on the job. Ron's POV, as always.
Distantly, he heard the high, piercing screech of an owl. A few seconds later, the sound was heard again. He scrunched his eyes tight and started to grumble into his pillow. The high screech was made once more; he grabbed his pillow and threw it in the direction it came from.
"Shut up, Pig!"
The little owl dodged it and fluttered over to his bed, twittering wildly. Ron swatted at it grouchily, his cheek pressed against the sheets, as his pillow was now missing. Pigwidgeon dropped what felt like an envelope on Ron's bare back and fluttered back to his perch on the opposite side of the attic bedroom.
Ron angled his arm to reach back and seize the envelope. Half asleep, he opened it, almost giving himself a paper cut, and pulled out the letter. He read it once, not comprehending it, then once again, with more attention than before.
He hastily rose from his bed, grabbed his wand from his bedside table and summoned a robe from the wardrobe. His was down the stairs within minutes. He crossed the kitchen, where his mother was making breakfast.
"Good morning," he said, almost to the back door. "Sorry, I've got to go!"
"But it's your day off!" said Molly, holding up a plate disappointedly. Arthur was already seated at the table, tucking into kippers.
"Duty calls," said Ron with a slight grin, pulling open the door.
"Won't you at least have a bit of toast?"
Ron hesitated.
"All right, then," he said. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
Still his specialty, the spell worked perfectly, sending the toast neatly into his hand.
"See you later!" said Ron as he stepped outside.
"It might snow later!" he heard Molly call from inside the kitchen. Sure enough, the clouds overhead looked threatening. It's not supposed to snow in the middle of April, Ron thought irritably.
Once outside the gate, Ron turned on the spot, appearing instantly in the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic, slightly breathless. Apparating took a bit of getting used to. He was soon in the lifts and the cool female voice was announcing: "Level Two:
Department of Magical Law Enforcement" and Ron shouldered his way past the other passengers. He wove through the maze of cubicles until he got to his own, and right across from it, Harry's.
"What's the emergency?"
Harry looked up. He had been pouring over a massive stack of papers. He hastily closed the file he had been reading and stood.
"Thorfinn Rowle has escaped in transport to Azkaban," said Harry grimly.
"Excellent, a chase!" said Ron excitedly, clapping his hands and rubbing the palms together. "I've been bored out of my wits—"
"Ron," Harry interrupted. "Being an Auror isn't a game—"
"Says the man who organizes sponsored Auror Quidditch matches every month."
Harry punched Ron's shoulder.
"Seriously, though. He's wandless and on foot, but we should still be cautious."
"Where was he last seen?"
Harry turned to the bulletin board on the wall to the right of his desk. Brushing aside a few moving pictures of himself and Ginny in various degrees of contentedness, he revealed a map of the country. He pointed to a spot just off the West Coast.
"That's Azkaban."
He dragged his finger to the right until it pointed to land.
"He was seen disappearing into this forest just on the mainland. He shouldn't be far from there."
Ron nodded in understanding.
"When do we leave?"
"As soon as I write a letter to Ginny."
Harry scribbled a note on a piece of scratch parchment from his desk and sealed it magically.
"Don't you want to write Hermione?"
"Naw, Ginny'll let her know, no doubt."
They both hurried out of the cubicle and Auror Offices in turn. At the front desk of the Atrium, Harry deposited the letter and asked it be sent expressly to Hogwarts.
"We should bring brooms so we can search more efficiently…"
They Apparated back to the Burrow. Stealing through the garden, they made their way silently to the broom shed, not wanting to alert the family to their presence. Harry grabbed his trusty Firebolt, and Ron his Cleansweep.
"Off we go then," said Ron. "Hope you know where we're going, because I wasn't honestly paying enough attention…"
"Yes, of course," said Harry, chuckling slightly. Harry took hold of Ron's upper arm and turned them both into nothing.
Harry and Ron landed in something cold and wet. The forest around them was gloomy and silent, and a fresh coat of pristine snow swathed the ground and surrounding trees.
"Come on," whispered Ron, not knowing exactly why. The forest was quite unnerving.
They both mounted their brooms and were soon zooming through the trees, scouring the landscape below for any sign of the ex-Death Eater.
After forty minutes of searching and coming upon nothing, Harry motioned Ron back down to the ground.
"This isn't as fun as I thought it would be," Ron said bitterly, blowing on his numb hands, trying to warm them up.
Harry didn't reply. He was peering, quite still, through the trees to his left.
"Did you hear that?" he whispered.
"Hear what?" said Ron, still working on his hands.
"It sounded like a girl screaming…"
Ron heard it just then. The pair glanced quickly at each other before hopping on their brooms and flying in the direction it had sounded.
Barely a minute later, they came across a clearing wherein two people were standing. No sooner had the figures come into view than a curse flew at them. Harry dodged it quickly but Ron wasn't so lucky; it hit him and he flew off of his broom. He felt his body stiffen in mid-air and, unable to move, fell face-first like a board into the hard snow. A Full-Body Bind, Ron thought angrily, cursing himself for not getting out of the way in time.
"Ron!" two people yelled. Harry, obviously, was one of them, but the other sounded like…
"Hermione!" Harry shouted.
"Harry! Help me!"
Panicking, Ron tried to move, but his arms and legs remained firmly latched to his sides. He could feel the snow soaking through the front of his cloak and biting at the exposed skin of his nose and forehead.
"Rowle, let her go!" Harry shouted from somewhere overhead.
"How about a fair trade?" came the hard, cold voice that no doubt belonged to Rowle. "Her life for yours?"
"You're mental!"
"You will pay for what you did to the Dark Lord, Potter!" Rowle screamed, sounding manic. "You will!"
"Stupefy!" shouted Harry but not even a moment later Rowle cried "Protego!" and Ron heard Harry's Stunning Spell bounce away and hit a tree.
"Harry!" Ron tried to shout but as he couldn't move his jaw, it came out as a muffled groan.
Suddenly, Ron felt himself be lifted up into the air by an invisible force and slammed back into the packed snow.
"Ron!" his two friends shouted again.
Grunting in pain, Ron found that he could move again. Slowly getting to his knees, he looked up to find Harry hovering above the treetops, not daring to come any closer, lest Rowle do something to Hermione.
"Run! Go for help!" Ron yelled up to him.
"Stupefy!" Rowle bellowed. Ron whipped his head around to find that the spell wasn't meant for him. Harry wheeled around to avoid the red jet of light and with a last agonized look over his shoulder at Ron, twisted in midair and was gone, broom and all.
Ron turned his attention back to Rowle and Hermione, who was whimpering against Rowle's side. Rowle shoved her away from him and she sprinted over to where Ron was kneeling.
"Are you all right?" he asked her as she drew nearer.
"Fine. Where is Harry going? Is he coming back?" she seemed awfully calm about their situation.
"I dunno," Ron said lowly, holding out his hand for her to grab but keeping his eyes on Rowle.
"But he is coming back?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, of course, why wouldn't he?" said Ron, tearing his eyes away from Rowle for a moment to look at her, but was distracted.
"What are you wearing?"
She was dressed in wizard's robes several sizes too big for her. She swiftly pulled away from him.
"What are you talking about? How can you talk about clothes at a time like this?"
Something was wrong.
"Hermione—"
"Crucio!" she shrieked suddenly.
Thousands upon thousands of knives were suddenly piercing every inch of his body. Ron writhed and screamed in the snow, thrashing against the pain and wishing nothing but that it would stop.
Then it was gone.
Ron lay curled into a ball, breathing heavily and aching everywhere. He raised his eyes slowly to look up at Hermione, who was standing over him with her wand raised.
"Who are you and what have you done with her?" Ron spat up at the figure.
The Hermione grinned maliciously, plastering an expression Ron had never seen on that face before.
"Very good, Ronald. Oh, how I love teasing boys," the Hermione imposter said lightly, flipping her mane of hair in a very un-Hermione fashion. But even as she spoke, her features began to change and slip away to reveal the person beneath the Polyjuice Potion. It was a man Ron had never seen before, with a high forehead, narrow, glinting eyes, and a neat beard and mustache.
"Nice to meet you, I am Rabastan Lestrange," said the man, leaning over so as to see Ron better. "I believe your mother murdered my dear sister-in-law."
"She was crazy!" Ron bellowed. "And she deserved what she got!"
"Crucio!" Rowle had walked up to where Ron was lying in the snow and pointed the wand he was carrying down at him. The pain only lasted seconds before he was aware once again of where he was.
"Now, now," said Lestrange placidly, waving Rowle's wand away. "I promised you Harry Potter, so don't mess this up. You leave Weasley to me and wait for Potter to return."
Rowle turned and marched away.
"Now," Lestrange said softly. "Where was I? Cru—"
"Expelliarmus!"
Lestrange's wand flew out of his hand and landed ten feet away in the snow.
Harry had returned. His back up was none other than the real Hermione.
"Ron!" cried Hermione, running over to the spot where he was still laying as Harry shot a stunning spell at Rowle.
"Not exactly who I had in mind, Harry!" called Ron weakly, wishing Hermione hadn't come but glad at the same time. Hermione reached him and pulled out her wand, performing a neat little wave; Ron's clothes became instantly dry and warm. Ron aimed his wand at Rowle as Hermione wrapped her arms around Ron's shoulders, attempting to pull him up to a standing position.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry shouted, finally disarming Rowle.
"Stupefy!" said Ron, hitting Rowle right between the shoulder blades. The ex-Death Eater toppled over face-first into the snow.
"Yeah, see how that feels?"
They all turned their wands on Lestrange, who was desperately searching for his own. His fingers seemed to find something and he whirled around, shouting, "Sectemsempra!"
The curse caught Ron in the shoulder and a part of Hermione's wrist. They toppled over backwards, spurting blood everywhere and staining the snow around them red.
"Stupefy!" Ron thought he heard Harry shout the ringing in his ears muffled it.
"Hermione…" Ron groaned, his hand scrabbling for hers. "Please tell me you have some dittany on you…"
He opened his eyes blearily to see that she was holding her wrist, which was bleeding freely.
"No, Ron, I don't!" she gasped.
Harry ran over to them.
"Hermione, can you Apparate?"
She nodded. Ron lay still in the snow, watching the proceedings as though through a tunnel.
"Go to St. Mungo's, I'll take these gits to Azkaban, where they belong."
Ron felt Hermione's gentle arms wrap themselves around his torso and he lost his battle to remain conscious as he felt the familiar uncomfortable squeeze that meant they were travelling far away.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
When Ron awoke, he found himself lying in the same position he remembered being in the forest clearing but he was now warm and comfortable, a positive change. His shoulder felt stiff but it didn't hurt and his body ached faintly from the torture curses that had been dealt to him.
He shifted his head and saw that Hermione and Harry were conversing just outside the door.
"Hey, guys," Ron called softly. They both turned and came over to his bed.
"Glad you're okay," Harry said, grinning.
"Yep, these Mungo Healers, you know," said Ron, winking at Hermione who was looking paler than usual. "Are you okay?"
"Of course," said Hermione, holding up her wrist for his inspection. He took it and pressed the recently healed wound to his lips.
"Hermione and I were just talking about how Lestrange could have gotten Hermione's hair," Harry said loudly, obviously trying to halt the impending snog session.
"And?" Ron said, not letting go of Hermione's wrist.
"We can't think of anything," Hermione said, tracing her fingers up Ron's arm.
"I've got some theories—" began Harry.
"But none of them make any sense," said Hermione.
"Er—Harry? Can this wait? I haven't seen Hermione in ages—"
"It's only been a week!"
"Exactly!"
Harry glared at the pair of them. Then his face relaxed into a half-smile.
"This was supposed to be your day off. The Healer said you could get out before four, so I'll be seeing you two for dinner at the Burrow. We'll finish this tomorrow."
"Thanks, mate!" called Ron as Harry left.
Hermione leaned down to kiss Ron.
"Your poor nose," she said, pecking it gently. Ron, forgetting about his shoulder, lifted his injured hand to hold Hermione's face as she went back to kiss him but pulled back when a stinging pain lanced through his arm.
"Ouch!" said Ron, rubbing his shoulder. "Guess that wasn't such a good idea…"
"Sorry!" said Hermione, standing up and taking a step back.
Regretting his outburst, Ron beckoned her to him.
"You know, I still don't know what you're doing here."
Hermione perched herself on the side of his cot and stroked his hair thoughtfully.
"Well, first of all, it's Saturday, so I have the day off too."
"I lose track of the days."
"So I thought I'd come and visit, seeing as you are the one always coming to visit me."
"I got Harry's 'urgent' owl early this morning."
"Therefore, you weren't there."
Ron flashed her a smile.
"Harry sent you and Ginny an owl."
"Just missed me."
"Wasn't mum and dad there when you arrived?"
"No, they had just left to the Ministry. They heard something about an escaped Death Eater and wanted to know where you and Harry had gone."
"So you were alone at the Burrow?"
"Yes, and that's when Harry burst in on my lunch, looking for your dad—"
"And finding you."
Ron reached around her waist. They sat like this for countless blissful minutes.
"So, how do you want to spend the rest of our day off?" said Ron, nestling his frostbitten face into the small of her back.
"I can think of a few things—" said Hermione, mischievously.
"As you are a genius, I'm sure you can."
Thank you for reading, please review ^_^