DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Harry Potter universe, I have not received any money from this and all characters are JKR's. The only thing that is mine is this plot
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DING DONG.
DING DONG.
The man looked up from the table, curious at who would call on a Sunday afternoon. He scratched the velvet red hair that lightly covered his chin and stood up from the table. He walked slowly to the door. It chimed again. And then again. "Flipping hold your horses," He said. More vulgar language almost slipped out of his mouth, if he had not remembered the young boy who had been sitting at the dining room table with him. He knew that, even young, the boy could probably hear what the man was saying in this small townhouse.
Finally, he reached the door and opened it.
His eyebrows leapt up and his mouth slightly opened before he regained control of his body and closed his mouth, lowered his eyebrows. He looked at the two figures on this doorstep. Numerous thoughts flew through his mind and his heart picked up, thumping against his chest.
"Who are you?" he asked, hoping his eyes were deceiving him.
"Ron. It's me. Hermione." The figure on the left said. An "And Ginny" followed this quickly. The other figure had spoken. The man looked over the two. The woman on the left had long brown hair with eyes piercing his own, questioning him. The woman beside her had dark red hair, nearly in comparison to the man's.
"I know." He muttered. "A man can hope though." He paused, looking around them out onto the dark street. A third figure was down there, on the sidewalk, smoking.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"Might we come in?" Hermione asked, "Its quite chilly out here and is not quite the best spot for a decent conversation." Ron looked at the two of them, sadly coming to the realization that his past, something that he had been running away from for years, was finally here. Calling on his doorstep as it were. Why now? He wondered. He thought about it, but then realized that this was not ironic, nor a friendly house call. Business, he realized. Grunting a bit, he pushed forward the screen that had been separating the women from him and opened the door fully, waving impatiently for them to enter. They quickly entered and headed down the hall, as Ron slammed the door shut. He turned and also walked down the hall, emerging in to the kitchen where the two women were standing in shock, staring at the young boy at the table who returned their whimsical stares.
"
"Charlie, please go to your room." Rom said. While it was worded like a question, the words came forcefully from his mouth and the boy, recognizing the tone, solemnly closed his coloring pack, picked up his crayons, and hurried off towards his bedroom. A pregnant pause consumed the kitchen as Ron moved around the women and sat down where he had previously been, on the bench next to where the boy had been, wishing he could return to the paper that sat in front of him.
"Ron? Is he…" Ginny whispered, finally ending the quiet that Ron actually found quite nice.
"None of your business?" he asked gruffly. "Yes. Now sit. Tell me what you came here to say and then you can get the hell out." This statement seemed to snap both women out of their trance. Ginny sat down across from him, while Hermione seemed to have also regained control of her vocal chords. "That's not a very pleasant way of greeting-"
"People who have not said one word to me or sent one bit of post in over 8 years."
"You don't understand!" Hermione said, rising to defend herself.
"And frankly I don't give a damn. I'm not in the mood to relive childhood arguments. WHAT DO YOU WANT?" he asked, slowly and loudly.
"Ron…" Ginny said, still in a quiet voice. "Since your…departure the Ministry has been maintaining a general lookout for you, just watching if you pop up on any radars. While several came up in between the time you left and around 2003, it only was in 2004 when the Ministry first began to hear much more than the general gibberish about you traveling on muggle… aeroplanes? And other nonsensical activities. We know what you have been up to, or at least enough as Harry wanted to tell us…" Ron soon tuned out the rest. Harry? He had not heard that name said to him in a very long time. Hell, a while ago he had been able to stop thinking about that person, and in general everyone else he had ever really known. Ron was finally happy and now, He had sent people to disrupt little old Ron. Sidekick Ron. Exiled Ron.
"Blah blah blah." He said, stopping Ginny as she was talking about….something. "I've said this already once this evening, but I'll say it again. I don't give a damn. What I have been up to these last few months is not any crime, and is even sanctioned and protected by the ICW. So, again, just say what you came here to say or I'll throw you out."
His voice showed that he was finished and tired of them already. Never thought this sort of situation could ever have happen 8 years ago, Ron thought, somewhat depressingly.
"We haven't come here to tell you anything other than watch out and know we are watching. While you may not be breaking any laws, the British Ministry of Magic does not in any way condone what you are doing and will be monitoring you now much, much more." This time Hermione spoke. It seemed she was getting frustrated as well, but seemed to be trying to control it. Ginny seemed ready to burst in to tears. For shame, Ron thought sarcastically
Ron looked back and forth at the two women across from him. "Let me get this straight. You show up on MY doorstep at fucking 7:30 at night on a bloody Sunday and waltz into MY house and expect to simply be allowed to say 'We're watching you.' Who the hell do you think you are? How dare you think you have any impact on what I do? You deserted me!"
"Ron that's not fair!" Hermione said again. "Do you not realize what you did IS a crime? You are lucky Harry convinced the Minister back then not to arrest you. Banishing you was letting you off easy. And after that, when Skeeter published her article about you ditching us on the hunt for the Horcruxes, I mean… you were reviled in the community Ron. Public support for you being captured and sent to Azkaban was terribly high."
Ron did all he could not to smirk, but some still got through. "You are pathetic. You don't even understand what I did, why it happened. How… how ashamed I am that that happened." He muttered.
"You are the pathetic one Ron Weasley!" Ginny screamed, informing Ron that, as old as she looked, the angry little girl he once knew was still there.
"You betrayed your family! You betrayed your friends! And you betrayed your country! And what have you been up to since you left? You fell off the map for a year. Then we learn of your travelling to the Balkans! And then back to here and later in the new millennium, to Arabia! What have you gotten yourself into?" her tears gushed down her cheeks and to her chin, trembling there and threatening to crash onto the table.
Ron sighed and looked down. While trying to ignore the random thought that popped into his head about needing to buy a new tablecloth, something actually made of real cloth, he inhaled deeply, before letting it all out slowly. He then returned his gaze to the redheaded girl.
"Do not raise your FUCKING voice to me in my own house and do not talk about things you do not understand." He said, his voice low and savage. He again feared that the boy down the hall could hear all of this, but frankly, it was too late to worry about that.
"What I have done," Ron continued. "Is living my life. As I recall, you, Ginevra Weasley or you Hermione Granger do not dictate that. For the first time in my life, I was on my own. And do you know what? I was happy." With that he stood and walked past them to the front door. He opened it, wordlessly demanding their withdrawal. The two slowly rose and headed out. Ginny walked right past him and towards the man still smokein on the sidewalk. Hermione stopped in front of him.
"I don't know who you are, but you are not Ron Weasley. The man I knew was honourable and loved his family."
"You've changed so much." Ron said lightly. Her eyes changed from their fierce glare to a hopeful gaze.
"In a bad way," he deadpanned. "It's weird, you know? Our positions have almost reversed. You, wanting so much to be accepted in the wizarding world, have probably all but forgotten about those silly days when you didn't know magic existed. You have become so… ignorant. Me? I've come to realize that muggles… well they aren't actually stupid barbarians who are so lost without magic. And I feel sorry for you, because looking at you, I fear that you have lost more of your soul than I have." With that he shoved her out onto the porch and let the screen close. "Lets not wait another 8 years to see each other… lets make it … hmm when's good for me…?" Ron pretended to consider the issue.
"Ah! I know. How bouts when hell freezes over?"
The door slammed shut before she could offer a witty, Ron doubted that but you never knew, retort. He put his back against the door, just lying there, thinking. While there, the little boy reappeared, this time holding a small teddy bear and playing with a button on his pajama top.
"Daddy?" the boy said, looking up at Ron with big blue eyes. "Who was that at the door?" Ron stared at him for a moment, before smiling at him. "Those were some old school mates of mine. They just wanted to come say hi."
"How come they haven't come by before?"
"Well I suspect they've been quite busy, yeah?"
"Oh," the boy said, pondering that possibility. "I guess so." Seizing the moment, Ron rolled off the door and walked towards the little boy. "Come on kiddo, your mums going to be home soon and she will kill me if you aren't in bed."
"Ok." And with that the two began to walk through the kitchen and down to the child's small bedroom.
"Say daddy?" the little boy said, looking up at his father again.
"Yeah Charlie?"
"How come they didn't want to meet me?"
Ron smiled again. "I don't know son. Some people are just rude like that. Its like they have the emotional range of a teaspoon." The boy giggled, not understanding the comment, but thinking it sounded funny. Ron on the other hand, though sounding jovial, meant that last bit as a bitter reminder of all he had been through and what he had come from.
After putting the boy down, Ron turned out the light and closed the door. He then looked down to the end of the hall. At the end was a door. Ron looked at it, both with a sense of longing and a sense of fear. Ignoring the voice in his head, which sounded quite girly yet for some reason reminded him of when he was around 12, Ron forced himself down to the door. It was white and plain but it secretly held something in it. The door screeched open, annoying Ron and forcing him to quickly open and close the door. Inside was his office. A small desk, a cabinet, and a few drawers were in the corner, with papers all over the desk. On the walls were several. Ron moved to the cabinet slowly. He put his left hand on the handle, and for a split second considered turning back. But the intelligent side of him was gone and the childish side took over. Ron yanked open the cabinet and set his gaze upon the item that was driving him on his quest. 14-inch willow containing one unicorn tail-hair.
"Ye olde faithful wand" Ron muttered.
The wand in front of him had not been touched in several years since its return to service several weeks ago. Ron's head buzzed with memories. He shook it roughly. Now was not the time to reminisce. Seemingly agreeing with him, the front door opened and shut violently. The sound of a bag dropping to the ground and keys dropping on a table echoed down the hall.
"Ronald?" a feminine voice called.
"Be right there babe." Ron replied. He looked back at the cabinet. Considering the early conversation, Ron closed the cabinet doors and stuck the wand into his pants pocket. He looked around the room slowly, before turning out the light and closing the door. Hiding from the past? he wondered. No… just trying to balance it with the present so somehow the future won't be fucked up.