A/N: Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition Round Nine.
Disclaimer: Characters and world belongs to JK Rowling.
Title: The Plan
Prompts: #2 "…the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters", #7 Rain on my parade, and #11 an undelivered letter
Team: Montrose Magpies
Position: Chaser One
Words: 1,345
Twenty-three-year-old Ronald Bilius Weasley sat at his desk in the Auror Office in the Ministry of Magic. He leaned forward and rubbed his temples with his hands before sighing. For him, it had been a long week. First, there was work. Lots of paperwork needed to be filled out and filed away, and then there was the high-energy chase on Thursday that had almost killed him… But he had been patched up quickly in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, and now he was back at work only a day later.
But everything was not all right. His brother, Bill Weasley, had been killed in action the previous night while on a journey from Egypt back to Britain, and the funeral was in just four days. Ron couldn't bear to think of another thing that could go wrong in his life because of this war—a war that had been going on since he was twelve years old. In fact, this war with Voldemort and the Death Eaters had started eleven years ago today, when Ron's best childhood friend, Harry Potter himself, had died trying to stop Voldemort from rising in the Chamber of Secrets all those years ago.
Harry Potter wasn't all that Ron had lost that day. His younger sister, Ginny Weasley, had died at the tender age of eleven, killed by Lord Voldemort in order for his revival. Since then, the world had been plunged into chaos and Ron's whole family had been worried for their lives.
Hermione Granger, who had been friends with Harry and Ron during their first and second years at Hogwarts, also left his side, blaming Ron for Harry's death. Now that Bill and Ginny were dead, the whole Weasley family was hiding, Harry was gone forever, and Voldemort was close to overcoming the world, Ron didn't feel as though there was any hope to be left.
Finally, Ron received an idea that was crazy, but it might just work—if he could get in contact with her, that is. Hastily, Ron grabbed a spare piece of parchment from his desk and began scribbling a letter. It read:
Dear Hermione,
I know it's been a long time since you've heard from me, eleven years in fact. I know you probably don't want to be hearing from me of all people, especially on this day of all days. But you need to read this through—my brother Bill was killed last night, Hermione. That's two of my siblings that he's killed. I know you think Harry's death was my fault, that I should've been there to help him or something—but in reality, I did all I could. I got Lockhart and myself out of there once I knew waiting around was useless. I even left my baby sister to die. Do you think I liked doing that? Leaving my best friend and sister to die is not something I would do lightly. I knew I had no other option.
I need you to listen to me. I need your help defeating He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named for good. We both know what he does to civilians who oppose him. We both know how he rips up families. We both know how cruel he really is. That is why I need your help. I'll tell you more later.
Sincerely,
Ron
Ron sighed, finishing up the last bit of his letter with a frown on his face. Then he groaned. All that he'd written—well, it had felt great while he was writing it. Now that he looked at it, however… Ron somehow knew, deep down, that he would never be able to deliver that letter. After everything Hermione believed that he'd done… No, that would just be adding stress, especially on a day like today. She didn't deserve that. So Ron calmly stuffed the letter inside on of the drawers in his desk, trying to forget about it as quickly as he could.
LINE BREAK
The day of Bill's funeral dawned bright and clear. As Ron tried to straighten his suit, he couldn't help but think how the weather must be mocking him. His brother had died, and yet the weather was as cheerful as could be. He sighed, running his hand through his fiery red hair. Bill hadn't deserved to die. If anyone had to die, it should've been me, Ron thought sourly. After all, I was already responsible for two deaths, and Bill had nothing on his plate. But if there was one thing Ron knew, it was that Fate would always come back to bite you in the nastiest ways possible.
There was a knock on the front door of his flat, and Ron shouted, "Come in!" as he came out of the bathroom. What he saw upon entering the living room shocked him. Hermione Jean Granger was standing there with a beautiful black gown on and white pearls around her neck. Ron frowned upon seeing his ex-best-friend and said, "What are you doing here?"
"Well, seeing as I have remained a friend of your family over the past eleven years, I am here to get you for your brother's funeral. Your mother asked me to make sure you wouldn't be late," she said, raising her nose up haughtily as she looked around his dingy living quarters.
Ron grinned suddenly, and he thought he saw a hint of surprise in Hermione's brown eyes before he continued. "I need your help. We need to defeat You-Know-Who once and for all—and we need to do so together. You've seen what he does to families; heck, he's ripped apart mine and I heard about what happened to your parents. He's also killed Harry, so now we're all that's left. We've got to defeat him and bring peace back to the world! We can start by destroying the evil Death Eaters!"
This idea had come to Ron about four days ago, when he'd tried writing that letter to Hermione. He knew Voldemort had to go, but he needed an army before he could start. Hermione just so happened to be the first person he tried to recruit. I wonder why that is, part of Ron's brain asked. The other part answered, saying, Maybe it's because you know that she knows how loosing family and friends feels, and you know that's the easiest way to get someone on your side—by playing with their emotions.
He looked up and saw Hermione frowning before him, but he also saw something more—a sparkle in her eyes, something that almost resembled hope, but Ron couldn't be sure since it was so long since he'd seen hope on anyone's face. But then Hermione opened her mouth. "I hate to rain on you parade, Ron," Hermione said regretfully, "but the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters. Not everything is black and white. There's a lot of gray area in between."
Ron sighed. He had known she would bring logic to this conversation, but he didn't know that her logic could be so disheartening. "Well… What do you propose we do then? We can't just let him take over!"
Hermione grinned, but it was gone so quickly that Ron couldn't even be sure it had ever happened. "You're right—we can't let You-Know-Who take over, but we can't start today. It'll take planning and time. Are you with me?"
Ron nodded. "What kind of planning are we talking about?"
Hermione glanced at her watch and seemed to grow worried. "Well, right now if you don't leave you'll be late for your own brother's funeral, and your parents will certainly be angry with me if that happens. We'll discuss this later."
Ron followed Hermione out to her car with a big smile plastered onto his face. Even though they were headed to Bill's funeral, Ron couldn't have been happier. He was finally doing something to avenge the deaths of Harry, Ginny, and Bill, something that should have been done long ago. Even better yet, with Hermione on his side the plan was destined to succeed.