Author's Note: WARNING: This is not for Ron Wealsey fans, as things don't work out so well for him in this story! (There is also a mention of Ginny Weasley that her fans may find offensive, too, so if you are a Ginny fan, please turn back now.)

That being said, if you enjoy poking some fun at that(/those) particular member(s) of the Weasley clan, by all means read on! And enjoy. It begins during the Chess Match of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone. As usual, this idea was spawned during a conversation I had with Artemis Arcturus. ~ RK

A Knight's Sacrifice – For the Greater Good

"He's going to sacrifice himself!"

Hermione shouted at the redhead, "No, you can't!"

But the little redheaded boy, the second youngest of seven children, was determined. "Harry, it's you that has to go on." The other two Gryffindors standing on their chess piece square gave their full attention to what very well might have been the last thing their less-intelligent friend said. "Not me. Not Hermione. You!" Since Harry and Ron were looking at each other, they did not notice the flinch on Hermione's face when he alluded to her death.

After Ron's bold and firm statement, there was silence on the gigantic chess board. After a long moment, the girl broke the quiet in the room with a rather enthusiastic yet surprised, "Well, that might be the smartest thing I've heard from you yet! Good for you, Ron! I say, 'Go for it!'"

The look that Ron gave Hermione…well, it couldn't have made ice melt, but it would have given one of those frozen cubes of water a good fight. "Are you mental, Hermione?"

But Hermione stood proudly in her place, refusing to get worked up this late in the game – both literally and figuratively. She snorted. "Well! You always thought so! This idea of yours just proves that you are more moronic than me! Sure, I may have almost died in a bathroom, but that wasn't me looking for trouble! I was upset, needed to be by myself, but even a stupid troll missed that memo. You see, unlike you, I didn't go looking for trouble – it found me. I would never go and get myself killed in a chess game!"

"I think it's called 'a match,' Hermione," offered Harry from the other side of Ron.

Hermione barely paused long enough for Harry to finish the sentence. "That's why I'm still here in my spot, and I don't plan on moving." For extra emphasis, she stomped her foot and crossed her arms.

Ron pursed his lips and stared angrily at her. Then, he sent his knightly steed charging!

The resulting battle was rather anti-climactic for the other two Gryffindor First Years. Ron's horse got run through and the redhead fell off of it, screaming like Draco Malfoy when Quirrell announced there was a troll in the dungeons! But, where Draco kept on screaming until his lungs couldn't exhale anymore, Ron landed on the chess board…and that was it. Didn't cry, whimper, flop around in agony…He just didn't move.

With a shrug, Harry marched up to Ron's strategic move and victoriously announced to the animated statue, "Checkmate!"

And with that, the match as over. "I guess we won!" Harry was about to continue on through to the next room, when he realized that no one was following him. He turned around and saw Hermione standing near Ron, who was still just laying there. "Hermione, you coming with me?"

Hermione poked Ron with her shoe. "Harry, I think he's really dead."

Harry laughed before he realized it. He wandered back to Hermione. "Are you sure?"

Hermione gave Ron a real hard kick in the face. The redhead didn't even twitch. "I think he's dead, Harry. Even Ron would react to getting kicked in the face."

Harry looked at Ron's body. "Well, we can't worry about it now. Snape's in there about to get the stone. The dead can wait, right, before everyone else is dead!"

Hermione still looked uncertain. "Maybe I should go back and tell someone he's dead."

"Why?"

Hermione glared at Harry. "Because, Harry, I really think we could be expelled if a teacher were to come down here and find him dead, and then both of us ahead of him, not to mention alive, without at least one of us going back to tell someone."

Harry looked at Hermione as though she were the most brilliant person in the world! "Good point. Right!" He glanced at the corpse. "Okay! I'll keep going! You go back and tell someone Ron's dead."

"Okay!" They both began their separate ways, but Hermione turned back to look at her friend. "Harry!" He looked at her over his shoulder as he was about to enter the next room. "Good luck! You'll be fine! Just don't do anything stupid!"

He burst out laughing. "I'm not Ron, Hermione!"

Then, Harry was gone.

Hermione then spun and charged off, retracing their steps. She was lost in thought as to how on earth she was supposed to get past that three-headed dog again, from the bottom of it without getting eaten when she ran straight into a pillar…

…a pillar that groaned after it fell over!

A pillar that wasn't a pillar at all! It was Professor Snape!

"Wait!" Hermione shouted at the man that was just getting to his feet. "If you're here, then you're not there trying to get the stone, which means someone else is in there getting it, and Harry has no idea who it is, but I'm the only one who knows it's not you!"

The look Snape gave her almost made her wet herself. The man was terrifying with that expression. "You are certainly not the only one who knows I'm not after the stone."

Hermione glared back at him as best she could. "Then, why are you here heading for it?" At his increased glare, she reluctantly added in a squeaky voice, "Professor."

"All Head of House professors were charged with the protection of the stone. Obviously we did not do that effectively since two First Years got through some of them."

Then, Hermione remembered. "Three, actually, sir."

Snape's expression shifted instantly. "Excuse me, Miss Granger?"

Hermione was now sheepish. "Three of us actually went down here."

"You're using the past tense. Why?"

"That's because one of us died!"

For a moment, Snape was paler than normal – which was quite an accomplishment for someone of his skin tone, really. "Is Mr. Potter—"

Hermione shook her head. "No, Ron!"

"Mr. Weasley's dead?"

"Yes, Professor."

Snape briefly had relief on his face, before confusion and amazement took over. "How?"

As quickly and unemotionally as she could, Hermione related what had happened on the Wizard's Chessboard. As she narrated this whole story, Snape began forward into the scene of the crime…or murder…though he was partial to considering it suicide the more Hermione told of the story. Then, he was standing over the body of a certain dead redhead, thinking that this would have been a blessing if this had occurred a few decades ago. So many problems never would have sprung up if only a certain bespectacled Gryffindor that plagued his very existence had died at a premature age.

Then, it was like lightning hit Snape's brain! This was exactly as though history was repeating itself from his own youth! This friendship going on between Weasley, Granger, and Potter would certainly end up in some very dramatic and angsty love-triangle that would be eerily reminiscent of his own! Without actually realizing he was doing it, Snape began to mutter to himself. "So many tensions are solved with this occurrence!"

"Professor?"

Then he realized that he'd spoken aloud. Oh, dear. He had to think fast. "Be thankful the interfering third wheel was knocked off early in the game—" Oh that was terrible, even if unintentional. "—no pun intended, Miss Granger."

Hermione was clearly confused. Snape sighed. "Nevermind," he said. This was just getting awkward. "You wait here with Mr. Weasley's body while I go and stop Potter from killing himself, too."

"But he's not as stupid as Ron to go get killed like that."

Snape actually agreed with her, but he was certainly never going to admit it.

~X~X~X~X~X~

It was only a few years later that Snape opened the Daily Prophet and saw something which actually made him smile for the first time in quite a few years. The Wizarding War was over. Harry had actually defeated Voldemort, and most everyone against the Death Eaters somehow survived. Mr. Weasley was only the first casualty in the war. His twit sister was next, and in the very next year, too! He couldn't understand what went wrong in the common sense department of those two youngest Weasleys. One was so determined to be famous, while the other was just a dumb girl with a seriously unhealthy and apparently self-destructive crush. The Weasley boy became known as the Boy-Who-Died-a-Knight, which was rather glorious-sounding to Snape, though he supposed that was the boy's intention all the while. The Weasley girl, however, was kind of forgotten especially after Harry had managed to destroy the Horcrux that had messed her up in the first place, despite her death. Oh, well.

It was the little announcement in the paper that made something in Snape rejoice in the justice finally going on. The underdog finally winning. The kid with the bad home/family life finally getting something good in his life! Justice was served. He felt a little vindicated in his lack of concern for Ron Weasley's death all those years ago.

Engaged! Harry Potter to Wed Hermione Granger!

Maybe if he were lucky he'd receive an invitation, which he would gladly R.S.V.P. to in the resounding affirmative. He would look for it in the mail. He was sure they wouldn't forget him.

He cut out the little article and moving picture of his former students, and placed it in a small frame on his fireplace mantle that evening.

End Note: Thank you for reading! Hope everyone enjoyed the story. Please review and let me know what you thought, though please keep your flames to yourself. (I gave a warning right from the beginning that this wouldn't end well for Ron & Ginny or Ron & Ginny fans. ) Thanks. ~ RK