Harry Potter and the characters from the series belong to J.K. Rowling, not me. Just so you know. Please Read & Review!
"Ron."
Ron's head snapped back into focus. He had been staring into the fire, trying to think for much too long. Even as he looked away, the bright flames still danced in his mind. He turned to Harry.
"Ron," he said. Ron noticed that Harry did not look happy about whatever he was going to say. "I have to go into hiding."
Ron opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it. He nodded.
"Just until I figure out what to do," Harry added hastily. He seemed to find this move cowardly. He paused. "And I need a Secret-Keeper."
Ron nodded, grinning at his friend.
"It's dangerous, though," Harry said, feeling that Ron was not getting the point.
"Can't be much more dangerous for me anyway, can it?" he said. There was a smile on his face, but Harry could sense a small bit of fear as well.
"Will you?" asked Harry.
"'Course I will."
Three months later, and Ron was making a quick stop at the Burrow. He looked at his family, who was sitting around him at the table, along with Hermione, to his left.
He hadn't been able to spend much time with any of them lately. It turns out that when you are the sole person with the knowledge of the most-wanted wizard in all of Britain, people want to find you.
Hermione, knowing that Ron couldn't tell her, never mentioned it to him; it stood as an unsaid, yet understood notion to the two of them.
As Ron was about to take a large gulp of his butterbeer, an owl flew in. Hermione leapt up and unattached the small piece of parchment from its leg. She quickly scanned the paper, her eyes growing wide, then read the warning aloud: "Ron Weasley, we are coming for you. We must find Harry Potter."
Everyone at the table started scrambling around, not even bothering to clean up the dishes that still held their half-eaten meals.
"Ron, up in the attic, now!" Mrs. Weasley shouted. "Hermione, you go with him! Ginny, I want you Apparating to your aunt's house now!"
"But, Mum-"
"NOW!" Mrs. Weasley shouted. "You have to get out of this house, Ginny!"
As soon as Ginny disappeared, she turned on Ron and Hermione. "You two! Up in the attic, now!"
As Ron and Hermione sprinted up the stairs, two at a time, they heard more shouts issued from the others below. There was Fred shouting to George- they would stand their ground together. Mr. And Mrs. Weasley headed up the front, preparing to defend their children. Bill and Fleur came next, side-by-side, glad that they had left Victore at home with a babysitter. Charlie and Percy were next, standing right next to each other, deciding that Death Eaters would get to them before they'd get to the twins, and, eventually, Ron and Hermione.
Once in the attic, Ron turned to Hermione, "Go, you need to leave now!" he whispered fiercely.
"No!" She looked scared, but she was holding her ground. "I'm staying with you, Ron. I can't- I don't want- I'm staying."
Ron gave her a curious look.
Her eyes were filling up with tears, and Ron realized that, for all of them, this could be their last day alive. He kissed Hermione, and she kissed him back, as if they both knew it was coming.
"Now, I really want to stay," Hermione whispered, giving him a nervous smile.
Ron grinned and kissed her again.
There was a large boom as half of one of the walls one the bottom floor came crashing down.
"Well," said Hermione, pulling out her wand, lighting it up with a brilliant pink in a spell that he hadn't seen before. "Here goes nothing."
The twelve Death Eaters that had been sent to the Burrow were putting up quite a fight.
Fortunately, the eight family members worked harder. They were fighting for their family, which gave them an edge.
In one combined stroke, Mr. And Mrs. Weasley took out three Death Eaters in a single spell. Bill and Fleur were doing likewise, attacking each Death Eater in a combined effort, until they were fighting off two. Charlie was fighting off two at once, Percy was going at it with one rather large Death Eater, and Fred and George were fighting off the three remaining ones with everything they had, including some rather odd curses that took the Death Eaters precious time to get through. For instance, one Death Eater had been turned into a part-slug, and had been taken out by Fleur during his moments of struggle.
Nobody noticed the one Death Eater who slipped past them all, including all the defensive spells that Fred and George kept throwing back over their heads towards the attic.
Meanwhile, Hermione was busy in the attic. She had put a Disillusionment Charm on Ron, conjured up an Invisibility Cloak, had snuck him in a corner, hidden him with several things in the attic, put a silencing charm over him, as well as about fifty other defensive spells, amazing Ron more and more with each unknown spell she contributed to his safety.
Finally she extinguished all the light in the attic, until nothing showed save for the pinkish glow coming from the tip of her wand. "It's like Malfoy's Hand of Glory, she told him. "It works the same anyway; just not Dark magic."
There was a long silence as there was another crash as someone else hit the floor and Ron heard Hermione let out a small whimper.
"When I tell you, Ron, you've got to Apparate," she whispered. She turned to him, and, even through all the spells and everything he was hidden in, he saw the despair in her eyes. "You've got to."
They both jumped slightly as the door that led to the attic stairs creaked open.
"I'll keep you safe, Ronald, don't worry," she whispered. Her voice was quivering. "I'll keep you safe."
At last, the door to the attic swung open.
The person responsible grunted as he got used to the darkness. He pulled out something that let him see because, in an instant, he could see Hermione.
"Hello there, Granger," said an unmistakable voice.
Sounding superiorly cool, Hermione whispered back, "I see you've brought your Hand of Glory, Malfoy. Works well in these situations, doesn't it?"
He gave a small smirk. "Still trying to keep cool, Granger? It won't work. It's only you and me now, and we know who knows more spells here, don't we?"
Hermione gave him an equally smug look. "Yes," she replied. "We do." She flicked her wand wordlessly and Malfoy was thrown backwards with such force that the wood in the wall creaked behind him.
"That was a good one, Granger, but try this one," he said. "Crucio!" he shouted. Ron grimaced as he heard a long scream.
When it was over he heard her gasping for breath.
"How do you like that one, Granger?" he asked.
In response, she simply shot another curse back at him, and another and another and another until he didn't even have time to get up from the ground each time she sent him flying.
"Impressive," he said, as she caught her breath. "But, still, Unforgivable Curses do tend to work the best." Again, he shouted "Crucio!" but there was no scream. There was a yelp and heavy breathing as she struggled against it.
"Getting stronger, there," Malfoy taunted. "But it does get tiring after a while, don't you agree?" He shot the spell at her three times in a row, but there was no yelp or scream.
"Pretty hard to fight it, huh?" he asked. He shot it again. "Wonder how your parents liked it? They must've enjoyed it, over and over again, though I doubt they handled it nearly as well as you did. You could hear their screams for miles."
Ron wondered why Hermione wasn't doing anything back, and then he realized that she was still fighting off the Cruciatous Curse that Malfoy had sent her last.
"Luckily, Father was there. Told Aunt Bella to stop, to take them with us, maybe you'd all like to have a nice reunion before you all died," Malfoy was back to taunting her. "Shame, though. You might've lived to see them if you hadn't been here protecting the Weasel."
Finally breaking free from the curse, Hermione stood up and punched Malfoy until they heard the crack of a broken nose.
"I'll give you one last chance, Granger," he growled through gritted teeth. "Tell me where Weasley is and I'll let you live long enough to watch your filthy Muggle parents die."
Hermione glared at him.
"Shall I help you decide?" he asked innocently. "Crucio!"
She fought against it long enough to slap him across the face.
"Fine, you've made your decision. I'll kill you now, then," Malfoy whispered triumphantly.
"RON, NOW!" Hermione shouted.
Ron knew he was supposed to Apparate away, but he couldn't.
Malfoy pulled out his wand. "Avada-"
"NOW!" she shouted, and there was a large bang as Ron disappeared from the scene.
"Ron!" Harry shouted as he saw his best friend arrive. He'd been sitting in an overly large armchair, trying to concentrate on a map of past Voldemort sightings.
His ginger-headed best friend was there, leaning precariously on the coffee table in front of him. He looked green.
"What? What's happened?" Harry was shouting, since, taking in Ron's appearance, something serious had just happened.
"They were there," Ron said through gritted teeth.
"Wait, no, what's wrong with you?" Harry asked, halting the conversation.
Ron kicked off a shoe to show why he'd been leaning on the coffee table so badly. "Never was much good at Apparating," he muttered. He'd splinched off part of his toe on his left foot.
Harry, looking up something in one of the many books Hermione had given to Ron to give to Harry when he went into hiding, then came back and quickly addressed the wound.
He'd be fine, just limping for the next few days.
"Now, what happened?" Harry said, once they were both sitting at the table and there was a steaming glass of butterbeer in front of them both.
"They found us," Ron said. He explained how the rest of his family had stationed themselves downstairs, sending Ginny away first, knowing that Harry would find relief in that small fact. "Hermione and I had to go upstairs, then," Ron added, explaining all the spells Hermione had put over him, over everyone else while she was at it. He told of Malfoy coming up with his Hand of Glory, and how he had tortured Hermione and told her about her parents.
He then, with a large gulp of butterbeer and a large shudder, told Harry of how Malfoy kept trying to give her a second chance to give him away, and how Hermione kept insisting that she wouldn't do it.
"I wanted to come out, I did, but I couldn't," he said. "I just couldn't. I'd have to give you up, and I-I couldn't."
He then told Harry of the killing, and Harry quickly realized what his going-into-hiding had brought upon his friends. Hermione was gone, and Ron had lost the person he loved. And here was Harry, with no response, no consolation.
They sat in silence for hours, revering the night's, and most of the rest of their lives' events.
Hours later, Mrs. Weasley's little white badger Patronus appeared, swirling before them on the table.
Harry jumped to his feet, and Ron did likewise, until they both saw that it was Mrs. Weasley, and calmed down considerably, though they were still ever vigilant.
They waited for news.
"I'm fine," she said to Ron, "And so is your father. Your brothers are fine, though the twins are off pretty badly." She hiccupped and it occurred to the two boys that she had been crying. "Fleur's fine as well."
She paused. She wanted to leave it at that. She didn't want to go on.
"And Hermione?" Ron asked, barely able to say the words for the lump in his throat had gotten unbelievably thick.
"Well, she-" Mrs. Weasley stopped short. "She almost…she's barely there. If it weren't for Ginny…" She returned to sobs and Bill's Patronus appeared, preparing to take over the conversation, seeing as the sobbing Mrs. Weasley could no longer do so.
"Right before you Apparated, Ron, Ginny came," Bill said. "Said she couldn't take it. Apparated right into the attic, and, right as Malfoy was saying the curse, she cursed him right back. His curse flew off and hit where you had just been, Ginny said, it scared her half to death. They took Malfoy off with all the other Death Eaters…they're, er, being taken care of."
"So, Hermione's alive?" Ron was almost shouting and the look on his face was that of a four-year-old at Christmastime.
There was a long pause. "She's in St. Mungo's right now, Ron. Malfoy messed her up pretty badly." Bill's tone was sympathetic. "She got hit with the Cruciatous Curse so many times, it's just…we hope she'll make it."
Remembering seeing Neville talking to his parents in St. Mungo's, Harry felt himself pale. That was what had happened to Neville's parents. They'd been tortured, just like Hermione. And it was Malfoy who'd done it…Malfoy who was going to kill Dumbledore…Malfoy, who-
"When can I come?" Ron shouted at the Patronus.
It shuddered slightly and Bill replied, "I'm not sure, Ron, everyone's looking for you."
Harry saw Ron's blue eyes get teary and Harry patted him on the back, making sure not to look him in the eyes.
"I'm sure she'll be alright," Bill said. "She just needs to rest for a while."
His Patronus disappeared, and the two boys were left alone in silence.
"At least Ginny was there," Harry prompted.
"Yeah," said Ron, giving a small smile. "I guess your whole saving-people thing is rubbing off on her."
Harry smiled back at him, glad that Ron was now making jokes- albeit small ones- than doing anything else at this point. He was also grateful that Hermione was still alive, along with everyone else that had been in the battle.
Giving Ron a sideways glance, he was sure Ron felt the same.
Ron left a week later.
He said that, as much as he wanted to, he couldn't stay there. He needed to get out, to actually do something.
Specifically, though he didn't mention it, Ron wanted to see Hermione. He mayn't have said it, but his face did, at least to Harry.
From the talking Patronus that was Bill, Ron learned that Hermione was to be in the hospital at least another month or so. She was in bad condition. Fred and George, however, were to be released in the next couple of weeks, now that their injuries were finally healing.
From there, Ron had decided to go back to Harry's house. He told Harry he needed to do research. He spent many days in the library, and Harry heard many sounds of grunting, groaning, and oddly enough, barking.
He emerged a week later, proudly showing Harry that he was now an Animagus.
"See, now I can go visit Hermione," he said, and Harry saw his eyes light up when he said her name.
Harry grinned, though was slightly jealous of his friend. He wondered vaguely if Ron ever felt that way, and shook away the feeling. Besides, Harry couldn't come on this visit. By the way Ron blushed every time he mentioned Hermione's name, Harry saw that this was and would have to be a Ron-Hermione visit.
"That's great!" said Harry, grinning. "Hey. Listen! I've almost figured out the end of this…it's almost time."
Ron grinned slightly and nodded. "Good luck. Call me when it comes…I want to be there."
Harry nodded, proud to have such a great and loyal friend.
Then, once more disguising himself as a little terrier.
Mrs. Weasley let out a little yelp as she looked around the hospital room.
Most everyone was there. Mr. Weasley, Charlie, Percy, Ginny were all crowded around Hermione's hospital bed. The twins were there as well, with bandages over their heads and arms- it seemed that Fred had sustained a concussion, and had broken his arm, and that George had managed to break about three ribs and needed stitches for the cut across his face. Bill and Fleur were to be back in about an hour- they'd gone home for a bit to see to Victore.
It seemed that most of them, while, naturally caring for Hermione's welfare, seeing as she was one of Ron and Harry's best friends and as much a part of the family as Harry was, felt somewhat guilty as to her injuries.
Mrs. Weasley, especially, had been feeling exceptionally guilty since the incident. She had managed to save all of her own children- though Fred and George were slightly worse for the wear- her husband, and herself, but not the only person outside of their family.
The others saw how brave she had acted in protecting Ron. She had every right to leave- she wasn't family- but she stayed, and put forth the most effort and contributed the most to the cause.
They'd also realized that it was due to her that they were even alive. She'd told them later that she had figured how to and had been secretly brewing Felix Felicis for the past few months, in case it was necessary. In the past few weeks, she'd been slipping into all their drinks each day. It was the reason for her insistence to set the table every day. Everyone else had finished there's that night, while she'd only managed to get down a few gulps of the pumpkin juice she'd diluted it in that evening.
Ginny, to whom Hermione felt eternally grateful, was there to see one of her best friends. Being the one had saved her, she also felt a strong need to stay there, to make sure that her job had been finished and that Hermione really had been saved. She had constantly cursed herself for not arriving sooner until Hermione had found out about it, and had told her not to be ridiculous and that she was thankful to Ginny to just be alive.
But everyone in the room- sick, injured, or otherwise- turned to look where a small bark had come from.
A small Jack Russell Terrier was sitting there, wagging its tail and looking at them all curiously.
Charlie cautiously walked over to the dog, and looked at it with a raised eyebrow. The dog gave him something of a nod, and Charlie unfastened a small note that had been fastened to the collar by Harry before Ron had left.
Close the windows and doors. Make sure we are all alone.
Once the dog's requests were answered, Ron turned back into himself, facing his slightly awestruck family, and a grinning Hermione.
"Wicked," said George and Fred, looking at each other and grinning.
"How'd you manage that?" asked Ginny.
"Why?" asked Charlie, tilting his head to one side.
"The Ministry's on the lookout for me, aren't they? They want to know where Harry is. I had to find some way to get around," said Ron.
"But the Ministry keeps tabs on all Animaguses," added Percy. "It's very thorough,"
"Yeah, if you're registered," replied Ron.
"You're not registered?" asked Percy, looking slightly appalled.
"Why not?" Ron said, shrugging. "Sirius wasn't, neither was Harry's dad."
The rest of his family let it go, with the exception of a small amount of teasing from George and Fred about his Animagus being such a small little dog.
He walked over to go see Hermione, and, as he looked behind him, he saw that the rest of the family had left the two of them alone.
"I can't believe you came," Hermione said. "It's so brave of you."
Ron gave her a small smile. "You wanna talk about being brave? I'm not the one who went through all that with Malfoy."
Hermione blushed slightly, and it wasn't until she did that Ron realized how pale she had been before. "I'm lucky, though. The same thing that happened to Neville's parents…that could have been me."
I suppose you're right, you are pretty lucky; after all, you did get to punch Malfoy….again."
She laughed, and they knew that together, they'd work everything out.