A/N: This story was originally posted at Checkmated, but do to several unseen issues, it was never fully posted. I worked on this story, tweaking and polishing it, for three years, finally finishing it last spring. The vast majority of this fic has been beta'd by at least two different people, and their work is much appreciated.

However, I wanted to post this epic story because it's sitting on my desktop, unseen by anyone but me. And that seems kind of silly. So here we go.

Hope you enjoy it. (And you probably won't like the first few chapters, but bear with me. At least for awhile.) :)

Chapter One

FRAGMENTS OF MEMORY

"Where is the girl?" came Lucius's slow, drawing, horrifying voice from somewhere around him. It was a cruel game. Ron knew that feigning innocence would be useless... they knew Ron was perfectly aware of where Hermione was.

A woman's voice came next. Ron was in survival mode right now. Everything was black and the Death Eaters had cleverly come up with a spell to keep any curses from being visible. The voices were always asking him questions about people he knew and he never knew when the next painful curse would come, or from where. "And Longbottom, where is he?"

Ron almost laughed, bitterly. He had always wished he was Harry Potter-- maybe Harry didn't have the best life, but everyone loved him and he was the hero. Maybe he'd get to play the hero for awhile, too, if he didn't die first.

He put thoughts of death out of his mind, though, when Lucius continued talking. "You see, Weasley, we have our methods of finding people. And we will find the girl, whether you tell us where she is or not." Ron felt the pain, fought against screaming and promptly lost the battle; and the derisive laughter of the Death Eaters rang in his ears.

He knew he was going to die and this thought, more than anything, jolted him awake.

Ginny's warm brown eyes stared at him, looking worried.

"What are you doing in my room?" Ron muttered, wiping his eyes and slowly sitting up. "And what time is it?"

"Mum heard the scream and sent me up and it's 7 o'clock in the morning. Breakfast time."

He groaned and leaned against his pillow. "I'm not hungry."

"If you don't come down, Mum will force feed you," she said, laughing. And then, quite suddenly, she became serious. "Are you okay? Besides the obvious, I mean."

"I'll survive." He stretched and staggered out of bed. He still felt sore in his back, even after two years.

Ginny nodded, although Ron noticed she wouldn't meet his eyes.

It only took him a few minutes to get ready and then he found eggs, sausage, and bacon at his place at table. The other members of his family, his mother, father, and Ginny, sat there, too. Ron had never gotten used to such a small group.

Percy had estranged himself from the family. Although he had never gotten bad enough that he joined the Death Eaters, he never bothered to make amends with his family. George and Fred were both highly successful: Fred had married Angelina and George was engaged to Alicia Spinnet. Ron knew it was time for him to go out and find a wizarding job, too, but most people had warned him that with his current mental state it probably wasn't a good idea. Ginny was looking for a job, too, but she was staying with her parents until she could find something.

Ron was getting to be more and more frustrated. He had gotten his wish-- he was a hero, but everyone was treating him like he was a small child. He desperately wanted to find a job and make a solid contribution to the wizarding community, but people just would not let him.

"You look like you could use a Pensieve," Mr. Weasley said, looking thoughtful. "A Knut for your thoughts?"

"Nothing," Ron said, knowing his cheeks were turning red and hating it.

"Are you all right, Ronald?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"I'm fine." What was wrong with him? Hadn't he always been the child who was eager to avoid confrontation at all costs? He could remember some of the bigger rows that had ensued at the dinner table, and, although sometimes he'd disagreed with Percy, he usually tried to stay out of the larger arguments. So why was he so argumentative lately?

"Ron--" said Mr. Weasley, warningly. "Easy."

"I'm not doing anything!"

"Ronald Weasley!" Mrs. Weasley yelled.

The argument had begun.

"Listen," Ron said, knowing he was being unfair and not caring, "my best friend is dead. No one knows where Hermione is, either. I have nightmares every night and I want to get a job. Stop babying me. Maybe if I got a job I'd have something to keep my mind off of what's going on."

Mr. Weasley took a deep breath. Ginny and Mrs. Weasley both stared at him, looking slightly shocked.

"All right," said Mr. Weasley, finally breaking the silence. "If you want a job, find one. I'd love to hire you, but there are nepotism laws. If you can find a job, you may take it. Now, may I please go back to my delicious eggs and sausage in peace?"

The rest of the meal went without incident. After Ron finished picking at his meal, he stormed outside and let the warm air wash over him. It was spring and he loved the sensation of being able to wear a t-shirt with his jeans.

Much to his surprise, Ginny came up from behind him. "I know you're worried about Hermione. Maybe she stopped being a witch and gave up all her powers."

They sat down on the swing in the garden. Their father had become Minister of Magic last year and Mrs. Weasley had used the extra money to add all sorts of beautiful things to her special garden.

"I don't think she did," Ron said quickly. But he knew he was clinging to any sort of hope-- if she had stopped being a witch, it would be harder to find her.

"You want to find her, don't you?"

He paused. He knew it wasn't reasonable, but he did want to. He longed to hold her, tell her she really was the cleverest witch he'd ever known, and promise to never argue with her again.

"You know you can't, right?"

"Yeah. I wouldn't be that stupid."

"Ron, look at me." Ginny knew him well enough to know when he wasn't being honest with her. Damn. He looked at her again and he saw her eyes fill with tears. "Please don't. I already lost Harry. I can't lose you, too. I know it sounds stupid, and it sounds like something you'd hear in a Muggle film, but I'm serious. I'm not strong enough for this."

Watching his wonderful younger sister cry, who had grown into such a strong woman, was too much for Ron. His eyes began to well up, too. "I won't."

She leaned up against him and tried to pretend she hadn't just been crying. Ginny had hold him that she hated it when she cried because her older brothers always used to make fun of her when she did. Even though Ron didn't do it anymore, it was hard to break old habits. "Was it horrible when you left Hogwarts for the mission?"

Ginny had known Ron, Harry, and Hermione had left Hogwarts for awhile to defeat Voldemort, but Ron never talked about what had happened once they got to London. All she knew was that Ron woke up screaming at night.

"Yeah," he said, struggling to find his voice.