Slowly Losing You
Chapter One
Pain. That was all Ronald Weasley felt. That once happy Gryffindor who laughed at everything was gone. He had vanished, replaced with a sorrow, depressed and quiet lion. Ron wasn't himself anymore. His best friends Harry Potter and Hermione Granger were worried about him. This wasn't the Ron they knew. This Ron was nearly silent all the time. He never spoke a word unless he felt it was required. He used to eat until he felt like he would burst. Lately, he barely ate anything. You could no longer see the happiness in his eyes. The sparkle in his eyes was gone. Instead, a depressing darkness had taken over his once sparkling eyes. Harry and Hermione had tried everything to reach out to Ron, but he wouldn't talk to either of them. They had even tried asking Ginny, but Ron wasn't speaking to his little sister either. The only ones who knew the reason for Ron's sudden depression were his twin brothers, Fred and George. The twins were having conflict with themselves. They knew Ron needed help from his best friends, but they had made a promise to Ron to not tell anyone. They hated seeing their little brother suffering, but they had promised. Despite their pranking and jokester personalities, they couldn't break their promises. However, the twins knew that this was one promise that they might have to break. It was for Ron's safety and happiness. Late one October night, Ron had gone up to bed early, leaving Harry, Hermione, Ginny and the twins in the common room alone. Fred and George felt this was the best time to do it.
''Hey, guys?'' Fred asked. Harry and Ginny looked up from their homework, and Hermione managed to tear her eyes away from her reading book to give them their attention. Fred glanced at George before continuing.
''George and I promised Ron that we would keep this secret, but you guys deserve to know. It may be the only way to help him. We're sorry for not telling you sooner...'' Fred looked at his twin who nodded his head.
''...but we know what's wrong with Ron.'' Fred finished. The three looked at each other. Harry and Ginny stacked up their papers and books neatly and Hermione carefully placed a bookmark in between the pages she was reading and set it aside.
''You know why he's depressed?'' Harry asked. The twins nodded simultaneously. The five sat together in a circle near the glowing fireplace. The twins cast a silencing charm on the common room before beginning their story.
''During the summer, we went to visit our grandparents. They hadn't seen us for a while and Mum thought it'd be good to go see them. We stayed there for a week. Anyway, we arrived and took our belongings we had brought with us to the guest room, which was quite snug considering six of us were staying in there.'' Fred paused telling the story and George took over.
''Fred had gone outside to help Dad tend to grandma's garden. Ginny had gone into the kitchen to help Grandma with dinner and Mum was taking a nap in the guestroom. Ron and I were left alone in the sitting room with Grandpa. Grandpa had stood up after a few minutes and told Ron to follow him. I noticed Ron looked kinda timid but stood and followed. I thought it was weird for Ron to be timid around our grandfather, so I also stood and followed after them quietly. I didn't know where they'd gone and was ready to give up when I heard Ron whimper. I knew that whimper from anywhere. It was the whimper Ron did when he was in pain. I noticed the sound had come from the basement so I cautiously opened the basement door and walked down the stairs as quiet as possible. As I prepared to turn the corner I heard a loud thump and instead of turning the corner, I stayed where I was and poked my head around the corner.'' George was choking back tears by now and everyone could tell he was about to reveal something shocking.
''I poked my head around the corner and saw Ron on the floor. His lower arm was bleeding heavily and I saw our grandfather with a knife in hand, covered in b-blood. Ron's blood.'' Everyone's eyes widened at this. George wiped away a stray tear and resumed the story.
''I wanted to run back upstairs at that moment and tell grandma but I was paralyzed with shock. So I stayed put. I stayed and watched as Grandpa kicked and punched Ron. Ron had bruises everywhere now and his arm had begun to bleed even more when kicks had been delivered to it. I heard Grandpa mutter the word 'worthless' before going into his bedroom and slamming the door, supposedly to take a nap. I came out of hiding and ran to Ron. Ron saw me and tried to hide the damage, but he knew I'd already seen it. I kneeled down next to him and gently grabbed his bleeding arm. He looked at me with tear filled eyes. He'd made me promise to not tell anyone and when I asked why, he said it was because he had a fear that Grandpa would hurt him again if anyone knew. I asked him how long this had been going on and he said...'' George swallowed.
''He said ten years.'' Everyone gasped. Ginny looked at George.
''Ron's being abused?'' She asked. The twins nodded.
''How come he's never told us?'' Harry asked.
''Like I said, he was scared that our grandfather would find out and beat him again.'' George said. Everyone was silent for a few moments.
''You guys can't tell him we told you. We just figured you guys had a right to know and that maybe we could help him once you knew.'' Fred said. The twins stood and headed to bed.
''I can't believe he's been abused since he was four and I never noticed it.'' Ginny said, still paralyzed by shock. Harry nodded.
''Guys, we have to do something about this. If Ron doesn't get properly treated for his injuries, it could kill him.'' Hermione said.
''But how are we going to help him without telling him that Fred and George told us?'' Harry asked.
''We just don't tell him. We can still get him help without him knowing we're getting him help.''
''How are we going to do that?'' Ginny wondered.
''Leave that to me.'' Hermione answered.