This chapter is to Fluffy Things R cute and xanthrypus because they guessed what was going to happen next! And a huge thank you to whatweareafreaidof for their amazing ideas, I owe you! Thank you so much for you continued reading and reviews.
Ron fainted.
Ron awoke blurred eyed and in a cold-sweat; Molly's last sentence to him had been replaying on repeat in his head.
Ron stopped himself from fainting again. He had to get out of the Medical Wing; he'd spent more time in here over the last two days than he had in last five years!
It was dark and Madam Pomfrey had fallen asleep on her desk, Ron smiled and crept out gently.
Walking through the silent halls of Hogwarts is the creepiest and eeriest thing that a human being can ever do, especially when you've grow up surrounded by siblings and constant noise. But they weren't his siblings were they?
They were distant relatives; the closest relative he had was Draco Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. Malfoy. The Ferret. His enemy.
Ron walked silently down the corridors, having no particular destination; he was just wondering.
He wondered and wondered and wondered until he found that he had made his way to the Gryffindor common room.
Normally he would have walked straight in, without hesitation but now he just stared blankly at it. Did he belong there? Both of his parents were in Slytherin, Gryffindor's enemy house, so he must belong there too but could a spell override the sorting hat or was the sorting hat powerful enough to resist charms? But Ron knew that the sorting hat would place you were you wished to be placed and when he has sat on that stool all those years ago he had prayed that he would be placed in Gryffindor like the rest of his "family" so maybe that was the reason he was the reason he was in there, because he had wanted to belong and be like his family, which turned out were all just distant relations. This wasn't were he belonged anymore and his head and heart told him so, but Ron wanted a bed and his dorm was in there; he could do something about housing after he had had a good night's sleep; the Medical Wing beds were lumpier than Fred and George's home-made porridge.
Ron awoke to see a bush of hair shaking in front of him or Hermione, as she prefers to be called.
'Huh?' Ron sat up and shook his dark hair tiredly.
'Ron!'
'Yeah, that's me.' Ron yawned and stretched his long arms out.
'Where were you last night? You went to Dumbledore's and never came back. Luna said she saw your Mum crying!' Ron had sat up but collapsed back down when he remember Dumbledore's office.
'She's not my Mum.' Murmured Ron quietly, no one heard.
'What happened mate?' Called Neville, the boy whose parents Ron's Mum had tortured to madness; Neville hated Bellatrix Lestrange, he was bound to hate Ron too.
'Oh, nothing.' Ron shook his head and gave a charming smile; for once Hermione allowed the matter to rest and said no more. Maybe being Voldermort's son had its advantages.
'Ron?' It was Transfiguration and Ron had been miles away.
'Yes Harry.' Or should that be the boy who my father wants to murder?
'You're coming tonight?'
'Hm, where?' Ron's mind was blank as to what he could be doing tonight; he had planned to go and speak to Dumbledore as he thought the wise old man might have some advice for him on his present situation.
'The DA meeting? We're gonna do some duelling practising,' Ron gave Harry a questioning look. 'You know?' Ron shook his head; he had had more important things on his mind lately than the next DA meeting. 'We're going to split up and have duels?'
Ron's eyes grew wide but he quickly hid his shock; he had forgot about it and the fact that he was going to have to fly curses at his friends and peers had ran from his mind the moment he had found out that he had adopted; many things had been thrown out the window when he had found that out. But now he wondered as to what would happen if one of his parent's instincts took over and he shot a curse deadlier than he meant to; what if he seriously hurt someone? But that was just a stupid idea; he was still Ron and he would never hurt a friend. Ron pushed the idea happily from his head.
'Yeah, I remember now!' Ron smiled at Harry confidently.
'You'll come?' Ron nodded and smiled at him happily, it was that I-am-your-best-friend-so-of-course-I-will smile.
'Bloody hell Harry, course I will! Everyone coming?' Part of Ron hoping that only a few would be there; if he did shoot a bad curse, there would be less people to see it and less people to have to make forget.
'Yeah, everyone's really excited for it; we're going to have a longer session than usual so everyone can watch everyone else and everyone will get a chance.' Ron put on his best fake smile, which had vastly improved since his Weasley look had gone.
The night came faster than Ron would have liked; lessons went well and Ron was able to answer every question that he was asked and answered it to a high standard; people started to think that something was up; Ron never knew the answers and Hermione began to look jealous at having someone with the same or even better brains than her.
People dripped into the Room of Requirement as to not draw attention to themselves or to the fact that they were having secret meetings that would get them into a lot of trouble with Professor Umbridge, best friends with the Minster of Magic, if they were ever caught. Harry took a small register to see who had actually turned up and when Luna turned up late (as usual) everyone was there, it was a full house. Ron stood with Luna as Hermione had started to talk about rules and other stuff – Ron was not listening to a word she said.
'Hello Ronald.' Luna whispered; even she knew that talking while Hermione Granger was could get you seriously damaged.
'Hey Luna.'
'You're different.'
'Yeah.'
'You're adopted.' Ron's eyes grew wide and he held down his voice.
'What?'
'I know Ronald, I can tell. And no, no one else knows. Do not worry I shall not say anything.' She looked at him and gave him a dreamy smile.
'Thanks Luna, I appreciate it.' Ron smiled at her and took a step closer to her; she wasn't as weird and strange as people said; she was a nice and trustworthy person who should have more friends and be more liked than she was.
'They're dark, aren't they? Your real parents.' Ron swallowed and nodded; there was no point in lying to Luna, she wasn't going to tell anyone and she would know if he was lying to her.
'How do you know?' She hummed a bit before she seemed to wake up out of her day dreaming head and answered.
'Your aura has changed.' She looked around before continuing. 'It has green parts to it.' She paused again and seemed to listen to Hermione for a bit. 'There are black dots on it.' She stared deeply into Ron's now dark eyes. 'Do not worry, it is fine.'
She said no more and Ron didn't ask anymore of her.
People around them seemed to pair off and move; Luna skipped over to Neville and he blushed as she asked to be with him. Ron smiled.
'I'll be with you.' Hermione ordered him and pulled his arm from where he stood to a space. Ron didn't protest and allowed his feet to follow his arm.
Harry asked them to hit each other with small charms to which they all did, most people seemed to be getting the hang of it, minus Neville who still had some aiming issues, and now Ron was a match for Hermione, which annoyed her greatly.
After a while, Harry stopped them and asked them to sit on bean bags around mats which were in the centre of the room. It was time for everyone's performance.
The younger and less able children went first and were soon followed by older children. Fred and George were an equal match for each other and seemed to fire the same curse at each other at the same time. Luna and Neville were also an equal match; Neville couldn't aim that well and Luna would flick her wand dreamily and would hit a wall or the ceiling. Other partners seem equally paired and the duels seemed to get more interesting as the ability of the pairs increased.
And soon it was Hermione's and Ron's turn. Usually this would have been a one dragon race and Hermione would have defeated Ron in a few flicks of her wand, but Ron was different now.
They stood opposite each other and gave a slight bow, their eyes steady and waiting.
Harry gave the word and a pin dropping could have been heard; tension held the room still.
Hermione fired the first curse but Ron dodged it. Ron's curse was well aimed but Hermione was good at blocking. They seemed equally matched and it started off quite calm but then Hermione got angry; she had always won against Ron, that's why she went with him. But Ron was now a good match for her; maybe he was showing himself to be a better wizard.
Her voice was rising and rising and soon she was yelling her curses, her wand firing quicker and quicker; she forgot that it was just a practise. Sparks flew and children rapidly moved to get out of the way of a straying curse, not wanting to see what curse it was or what effect it would have on its victim.
Ron smiled as Hermione got more and more annoyed and her voice became louder and louder. Just to undermine her, he kept his voice calm and steady...but soon that was gone. He was yelling his curses, the loudness of his voice matching her but his voice echoed around the room, drowning hers out. He began firing curses that he had never even heard of before, but some part of his brain knew what it was doing and how to best attack and block curses.
All eyes in the room dared not look from the duel, in case they missed a nanosecond of the action.
Ron blinked and Hermione shot a leg-locking curse at him, she thought she had him, she thought she had won.
As it hit him, he yelled a curse on reflex without thinking. He shot on instinct. It was very powerful and hit its target chest on. His mother would have been proud.
'CRUCIO!'
