DISCLAIMER: I am not profiting from this story in any way, and only the plot is mine in the first place.

POST DATE: December 9, 2007

PROLOGUE

Thrashing about violently, Ronald Weasley tried desperately to dispatch the brain's tentacles as they wrapped around his arms and chest, constricting his movement and air flow. The greater his struggles became, however, the tighter the brain seemed to latch on, gouging and horrifically disfiguring the skin of his upper arms and torso. Though he knew he should be confunded, Ron strangely found himself capable of maintaining his mental awareness, though that seemed to serve him little at this moment. Even stranger was that he had the presence of mind, while gripped by panic no less, to link the incredible similarities between his current situation to a spot of trouble he had found himself in during his first year at Hogwarts, while attempting to fend off a nasty batch of Devil's Snare.

Suddenly, a door to Ron's right flew open, and running through was a severely disheveled looking Luna Lovegood. Covered in sweat and panting uncontrollably, she stopped a couple feet from Ron and shouted, "Come on, Ronald, we need you, everybody needs you!!" Luna's composure was so drastically different to her "normal" indifference that it made Ron's level of panic increase ten-fold.

Lashing out wildly in an attempt to free himself, his lungs finding it harder and harder to take in air, Ron wheezed back at her, "Help me get this BLOODY thing off!!" Rather than help, however, Luna just seemed to stand there, seemingly either unwilling or unable to help. Glancing over to see what was giving her pause, all the strength that he was struggling with temporarily left Ron's body as his eyes quickly focused on the devastating condition of his friend.

Taking in the look of this poor girl, the blood in Ron's veins seemed to turn to ice as his skin paled, highlighting his many freckles. Indeed, it was a wonder to Ron that Luna was even standing at all. Her robes were badly torn, with several burn marks still smoking, showing evidence of spell damage. Her blood seemed to be flowing freely from at least two large wounds, one on her left thigh and a terrible looking gash on her scalp above her right eye, soaking the hair in that region, streaking her dirty blond locks with Weasley red. All of the skin of her throat appeared to be blackened, as if charred by fire. Switching tactics as quickly as he could, just hoping to get her to safety while she could still move on her own, Ron told Luna, "You need to get outta here! You look like you're gonna pass out any minute!"

Fat tears were now rolling down Luna's cheeks as she continued to beg, seemingly unaware of Ron's request. "Hurry up, Ronald! Please, please come quickly. The Death Eaters, their hurting us, THEIR KILLING US!! We need your help! Please, Ronald!!"

Before he could so much as think of reengaging his tentacle-covered captor, though, he was once again struck dumb by what was happening before his eyes, as the girl before him began to change. Her hair becoming darker and her frame elongating, Luna no longer seemed to be Luna at all, in fact Luna did not even seem to be a girl anymore. Now standing before him was the pale, panicked form of Neville Longbottom, who immediately began imploring, "Hurry up, Ron, I don't know how much longer we can hold it together in there."

As he was about to ask for Neville's help out of his current predicament, Ron was interrupted as a jet of red light came blasting through the door which Luna-who-was-now-Neville had just come through, tearing through and ripping off Neville's left leg at the knee. The trauma from this atrocity blasted from Ron's mind his failing fight for freedom, forcing him to do no more than watch in shock as the now one-legged Neville adopted a strange, confused look to his face, as though he needed more time to decipher what was going on, then suddenly clutched his bloody stump and cried out in pain. Just as the horror of what had happened was beginning to sink in, however, once again the image before Ron began to morph, this time shrinking in height as his hair grew in length and became much bushier in appearance.

As the transformation completed, the image of Neville Longbottom was no longer standing before him, being replaced by a heavily injured Hermione Granger. Staring hauntingly at the man lying before her, she did not move a muscle, instead choosing to entrap her friend with an accusing gaze. Grief rolled over Ron as he took in the appearance of the gaping chest wound she possessed, which was currently leaking blood all over the front of her robes, clear to the hem. With an ashen face and an accusatory tone, Hermione slowly raised a shaking hand and pointed at her sorrow filled friend. "You promised to be there for us when we needed you Ronald, but you let us all down. Now look what's happened!! Once again, your incompetence has been our downfall. And to think; you wanted me to love you!?! How could you ever think that I would feel anything more than pity for a useless, horrible little lump like you?"

Ron wanted desperately to go to his hurt friend, to pick her up and carry her to safety, to at least fall to his knees before her and beg for her forgiveness. Trapped as he was and with his tongue betraying him, however, he could only watch on in growing shame as the figure before him continued to ooze blood from her scorched chest. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the figure once again morphed, taking on the shape of Harry, or at least what Ron believed to be Harry. It was difficult to tell, as the face of the man standing before him was missing its right half, leaving only his mouth and half of his nose behind.

Somewhere deep down, he knew that this scene was not right; that the events at the Department of Mysteries had not turned out as badly as this; but in his state of shock, Ron was not able to see this aberration standing before him for what it really was.

"How could you let this happen, mate? I depended on you, in fact, we all depended on you. We were supposed to be a team, you and me. Now Sirius is dead, and look at me! This is all your fault. I'm done for, Sirius is done for, and now there's nobody left to stop Voldemort, and it's ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!!!" Harry's voice seemed to build in strength as his accusations grew.

It pained Ron greatly to look upon this mess of a man, yet try as he might, he could not look away. Somewhere deep down, he knew that he deserved this punishment, and was fairly positive that he deserved even more. Eyes now pleading, tears rolling down his cheeks, Ron finally found his ability to at least whimper. "Please, forgive me, Harry! I tried to get free, I tried so hard!!"

Before the figure of Harry could respond to his pleas, its shape shifted once again, and to Ron's extreme horror, the massively disfigured form of his sister Ginny stood before him. Her left arm was completely missing, blown off from the shoulder, and blood covered her entire face as the majority of the top portion of her scalp was missing. Leaning down now, she took one blood covered hand and slowly stroked Ron's face, leaving a sickening trail of red in its wake.

"You're my brother, Ron; you're supposed to take care of me. Now, I'll never get to see Mum and Dad again, I'll never get to go back to the burrow again, and I'll never get to see our brothers again, and it's all because of YOU!! I wish one of my other brothers had been there. Bill, Charlie, the twins, even Percy would have been a better protector than you!!" As a final show of the disgust she felt with her brother, Ginny spat what blood was in her mouth in his face. A fresh tear now trickled down his cheek, the shame of what he'd done too great to bear, yet he still could not look away from his penance, a penance he knew he had earned.

Desperately trying to plead for her forgiveness, Ron whispered to his bloody mess of a sister, "I'm sorry I've failed you, Ginny. I wanted to keep you safe, I just couldn't. I wasn't strong enough, I didn't know how. Please forgive me."

Suddenly morphing yet again, Ginny changed into not just one figure, but two, namely Arthur and Molly Weasley, Ron's parents. Molly glared at her youngest son, taking on a harsh tone before speaking. "And how is it that she could possibly forgive you, Ronald!?! How could anyone forgive you? We counted on you to keep her safe, and yet what do you do? Let her go, gallivanting off to the Department of Mysteries! She's just a child, Ronnie, how could you let this happen? Now, I've lost my only daughter, my baby girl, and more than that, I've lost you as well. I can't even stand to look at you." With that, Molly quickly turned her back on her son. Ron wanted desperately to reach out to her, to beg and grovel for forgiveness if necessary. Above all else, no matter what, he had always at least had the support of his Mum and Dad to fall back on, but now he appeared in danger of losing that as well.

Finally looking over from his mother to his father, Ron received an icy, menacing glare that he did not even think his father possible of giving. "I'm only still looking at you to tell you that as of now, you are no longer a member of this family. You're a disgrace, Ron, a complete and utter disgrace. When I think about the fact that you were born to your mother and I, it sickens me! DO NOT bother coming back to the burrow, for there is no home waiting for you there. Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe I've wasted enough time on you, you worthless excuse for a son!!"

Springing up to a sitting position on his bed, Ron bellowed into the darkness of his room, "NO! PLEASE MUM AND DAD!! I SWEAR I'LL DO BETTER, PLEASE DON'T GIVE UP ON ME!!!" He was breathing hard, tears were streaming down his face, and he was covered in a sheen of cold sweat. Looking down at his chest, fully expecting to see a brain connected to several tentacles writhing and cutting into his skin, all Ron could make out by the faint moonlight coming through the window were the shadowy remains of the scar tissue left from injuries suffered weeks before.

Just as comprehension was dawning and he was realizing that he had had THE nightmare yet again, Ron's bedroom door suddenly burst open with a force great enough for the door handle to punch a hole in the wall as it collided into it. A blur of dressing gown and red hair came barreling towards him. Before Ron could even think of what was happening, he was engulfed in an incredibly strong bear hug, as a frantic voice began to reel off, "Oh, my poor, poor Ronniekins! Everything is going to be alright, it was just a bad dream my baby. Mummy's here now, everything is going to be alright."

Quickly wiping his tear-stained face off on his mother's dressing gown and saying a silent prayer to anybody who might happen to be listening asking that Fred and George please, please, oh please not be staying over tonight, Ron began the long process of detangling himself from his frantic mother before anyone could see them in this state. "I'm fine Mum, it was just a bad dream, nothing to get all freaked out about," came Ron's muffled response to his mother's ranting.

"Is everything alright, son? We heard some yelling," was the concerned response of Ron's father. Thankfully, his dad seemed to be taking things much more calmly than his mum.

"I'm fine, Dad, it was just a bad dream. Actually, I think I was more scared by Mum flying in here like a witch with her hair on fire than anything else." Ron's feeble attempt at humor to lighten up the situation earned him a momentary glare from his mum, and the smallest traces of a smile from his dad.

"I can stay with you until you go back to sleep if you like, yes, why don't I do that. In fact, Arthur, I think I'm just going to stay down here with my Ronnie tonight," Molly stated, drawing a look of horror from her son. Not wanting things to get any worse, and knowing full well that the twins would be absolutely relentless if they knew that their mum had to stay and comfort her 'baby Ronniekins' all night, Ron turned his most pleading face to his father in hopes that he could help stabilize this quickly deteriorating situation.

The look must have worked because, with a slight smirk on his face, Arthur placed a calm but firm hand on Molly's arm and began to pull her away from Ron's bed. "Nonsense, Dear, the boy just had a bad dream is all. Let's go back to bed and let him get some sleep."

"But, what if he gets…"

"I'm sure he'll be fine for the rest of the night, won't you Son?" Arthur quickly replied, hoping to head her off from gaining any kind of momentum. A Molly with momentum was a Molly that could not be stopped, he, above all, knew.

"Absolutely, Dad. I'm already feeling much better," Ron said thankfully while tacking on the most pleasant smile he could muster, even though in truth he was still quite upset.

"See now, everything's fine," Arthur assured his slightly unsure wife.

"Alright, well, I suppose you seem OK, but if you need us, remember, I'm just down stairs." With that, Molly stood up and was half dragged, half walked into the hall. Reaching the door jam, Arthur turned to take one final look at his son, who gratefully mouthed "thank you" to him. Giving his son one last reassuring smile, Arthur closed his son's door and steered his wife back to their bedroom.

Once the coast seemed clear, and his visitors seemed gone for good, Ron slowly lay back on his bed, finally letting the guilt from the dream that he had been holding back wash over him anew. Tears once again sprang into the corners of his eyes, trickling down into his ears. So consumed was he, that he did not notice his bedroom door open once again, nor did he notice the red-headed girl quietly walking over to his bedside, setting a glass of water on his nightstand. Standing and contemplating how to approach the conversation she wished to have with her most stubborn of brothers, she finally decided that being direct and to the point would be her best chance. "You know, it helps to talk about it," she finally said, in a voice much more strong than how she felt.

Startled from his reverie and jumping somewhat badly, Ron looked over at the moonlit silhouette of his younger sister and stated shakily, "Ginny! You scared me half to death! What're you doing in here?"

Sensing his apprehension at seeing him this way, Ginny knew she was going to have to be strong if she was going to get through to him. "Come off it, Ron, half of England heard you when you woke up; you know why I'm here. Are you OK?"

"I'm fine, Ginny, now please, go back to bed." Ron rolled over and turned his back to her, hoping against hope that she would take the hint. As he knew would be the case, there was no such luck.

"Uh-uh, no way, I came here for a reason, and I'm not leaving until I get you to talk about this. Now, don't be upset, but I know that this isn't the first nightmare you've had like this…"

"And how exactly do you know that?" Ron asked, rolling back over and sitting up, his anger beginning to burn like a wildfire.

Rather timidly, Ginny replied, "now, like I said, don't get mad, but maybe….perhaps…..harrymight'vetoldme." Ginny spoke this last part quickly, with dim hopes that Ron might not have heard it. Once again, no such luck.

"HE WHAT!?!?!"

"Hey! Quiet down or you'll have Mum back in here, and do you really want that?" Ginny questioned of her brother.

After mumbling something inaudible involving 'murder' and 'the-boy-who-lived', Ron turned his most stony expression to his very nosy sister. "He had no right. I can't help what I say in my sleep, but he should have kept his bloody nose to his bloody self."

"Ron! The point is not that Harry told me, the point is that I can help….I WANT to help," Ginny pleaded with her brother.

"There's nothing you can do, you don't know what you're talking about, so just BUTT OUT!" Ron bellowed these last two words, figuring that since reasoning hadn't worked, maybe pure intimidation would. Alas, he forgot that on his best day, he could never come close to the intimidation factor that Ginny could.

"Ya know, you and Harry are so alike sometimes. Neither one of you stubborn idiots thinks that anyone else could possibly know what you're going through, that your situation is so bloody 'unique'. Well, I've got news for you, Ronald, I DO know what you've been going through, or do you forget that I spent the entire summer after my first year waking up at odd hours of the night having just as bad, if not worse, dreams as you!!"

Ron leaned further and further back with each passing word. In a small part of his brain, Ron was very much amazed at how this little girl, more than a foot shorter that he and weighing more than ninety pounds less, could be so unbelievably scary some times. By the time her rant was finished, he had quite a bit of guilt to go along with his current fear of his sister.

"That summer, after the Chamber of Secrets, I was so messed up. And do you know what the thing that helped me the most was? Hmmm? You, you bloody prat!" Ginny nearly yelled this last part, barely containing her voice so as not to reawaken her parents.

"What do you mean?" Ron asked, confusion now plastered on his face.

Taking a seat beside her brother, Ginny said, "I mean, remember when I would have those awful nightmares, then afterwards, Mum would of course do her 'freaking out' thing…" at this Ron snorted, "…and then after she would go back to bed, you would show up at my door with a glass of water and a shoulder to cry on. Sitting there, crying and talking all that late night gibberish to you was probably the most helpful thing I could have possibly done."

"Yeah, but that was different," Ron hastily replied, now not quite being able to look his sister in the eye.

"How so? What, because I'm a GIIIRRRLLL? Please, Ron, get off you bloody high horse and just admit that you need someone to talk to. Even if it isn't me…." At this last part, Ginny's voice trailed off and she seemed to become sad.

Silence prevailed for several minutes after this last statement, while Ron and Ginny sat, alone in their thoughts. Finally taking his silence as a bad sign, Ginny rose to her feet and quickly said, "You know what, maybe this was a mistake. You obviously don't have any problems that you are willing to let someone LIKE ME help you with, so good-bye, Ronald," and she turned to storm from the room.

Just as she was beginning to walk, Ginny felt a hand on her elbow, firmly gripping her. As she turned, Ron stood up, and she was forced to look up into his eyes. The pain she saw there was almost enough to break her heart in two, and if she didn't know that she had to remain strong for her brother, she no doubt would have broken down right then and there.

Finally, after a few seconds, tears began to stream down Ron's face as he mumbled, "I couldn't save any of you, Ginny. I wanted to so bad, you all needed me so bad, but when it counted, when you needed me the most, I couldn't do it." With that, the brother and sister collapsed into each other's arms.

Taking up a more comfortable sitting position on the bed, Ginny continued to hold her sobbing brother, placing his head on her shoulder, feeling the pain and grief roll out of him as he choked out the gist of his dream to her.

"Why are you doing this to yourself, Ron? We all made it out of there, alive, and besides you and Hermione, mostly unscratched. Why are you putting yourself through this?" She could not understand why he was torturing himself needlessly.

"Yeah, you guys made it, but what if you hadn't? What if you had needed me? I sure as hell couldn't have done anything to save you, what with being confunded and all. Hell, I'm too much of a bloody idiot, aren't I?"

Right then and there, Ginny desired above all else to smack her brother for sounding so foolish. "Stop being so stupid, Ron. Yes, you were taken out, but that could have happened to any one of us, you just got the luck of the draw. We all have our own feelings to deal with because of that damned Department of Mysteries, but the last thing you need to be doing is beating yourself up over something you had no control over, am I right?"

Seeing Ron's silence, Ginny sadly realized that she had gotten as far with her brother this night as she was going to get. Not knowing what else to do, she simply grabbed him and held him once more. After several minutes and a few more tears had passed, Ron slowly removed himself from his sister's arms, and stood up. "Well, I have to admit, I do feel a little better. I think I'm gonna go to the loo and wash up a bit before I give another shot at this sleeping thing."

Standing up herself and walking to the door, Ginny turned back and said, "I hope I was of some help tonight, Ron. If you need me, you know where I'll be." With that, she turned to leave.

"Ginny?"

"Yeah, Ron?"

"Please don't tell anyone about the whole crying thing. The last thing I need is for that stuff to get back to Fred and George."

Sniggering a little, Ginny smiled back at her brother, "Of course not, why would I do that when they already have so much to use against you?"

Ducking as a pillow from Ron's bed came hurtling at her head, Ginny heard Ron jokingly reply, "Yeah right. Thanks a lot, Gin-Gin."

Sticking out her tongue at her brother's use of her most despised nickname, she finally smiled sweetly and uttered, "Any time, Ronniekins," then turned to leave once again.

"Ginny?"

"Yeah, Ron?"

"Thanks."

"Anytime, Ron. Goodnight."

Making his way into the loo and turning on the lamp, Ron walked over to the wash basin and filled it with hot water. Splashing himself in the face several times, he stood up straight and looked at himself in the mirror. With no minor amount of disgust, he trailed his fingers softly over the scar tissue on his chest. Looking himself in the eye, he finally shook his head, emptied the wash basin, and turned out the lamp. Leaving the room and heading back to bed, he silently wondered how it was that a sixteen year old boy could have such old looking eyes.

While he had paid great attention to his scarred chest and old looking eyes, Ron obviously paid no attention to his hair, or he would have noticed that, instead of having his normal Weasley shade of ginger, his hair had somehow inexplicably turned a chocolate shade of brown.

A/N: And there we have it, ladies and gentlemen. I am very excited with this story, as it is my first attempt at a romance involving not only my most favorite of couples, Ron and Hermione, but also having my most favorite character, Ron, as my lead. I know this first chapter was a bit sappy, but it's just a prologue, I'm not supposed to get into anything too juicy yet, I just want to wet your appetites. Anyways, I hope you all liked my interaction between Ron and Ginny. Too many times I've seen other authors make these two out to seem more like enemies than actual brother and sister. I wanted to point out that Ginny does actually love her brother, regardless of what some, we'll leave them nameless, authors might think. Anyways, tell me what you think, reviews are much appreciated. Oh, and if anyone out there might be willing to lend me any betaing services, I would greatly appreciate it.

Cheers!!