HP – HP – HP

Ron Weasley

HP – HP – HP

Entering the Great Hall, Ron for the most part ignored what was going on around him because he had a mission at hand. His eyes scanned the entire room and somewhere in his mind the vague faces of those he saw did register, but he ignored everything. He was on a mission to find Hermione and she had been neither in the Gryffindor common room nor the girls' dormitory. Suspecting that she would be somewhere within the Great Hall, Ron had briefly said hello to Seamus and Dean and then headed to the Hall. There were crowds of people in there already and Ron struggled to see past everyone to try and find her. He had seen Hermione only that morning, but he had come over incredibly anxious of the day ahead after she had left for Hogwarts and so he had arrived earlier than planned. The main event was due to start in an hour with a Quidditch display led by his younger sister Ginny. After that were the speeches and whilst he was looking forward to hearing Hermione, Harry and Neville's he was petrified concerning his own.

"Ron," he turned to see Harry standing next to him. "How long have you been here?"

"Few minutes, you?" Ron asked after a manly greeting hug from his best friend. He had barely seen Harry in the past year due to his training commitments. Ron understood, but he was looking forward to when Harry was a fully qualified Auror and he could spend some time simply being normal. Ron was unsure when he had last been 'normal' with Harry, but the war was now over and everyone could lead normal lives.

"All morning. I haven't found Ginny yet, though. Have you seen her?"

Ron shook his head. "She's probably practicing for the Quidditch display. How jealous are you that you're not in it?"

"Are you kidding me? I would have loved it, but I've done some pretty cool evasive flying training. Apparently I'm a natural on a broom."

"We could have told you that years ago, Harry!" Both friends turned as Bill, Charlie, Percy and George walked up to them all with a heavily pregnant Fleur. George was grinning and he then turned to Ron, "How was the shop yesterday?"

"Busy, but not for big things. I don't think we've got anything to worry about." Ron and George had been warned by their father that he did not want any of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes products to be used at any of the celebrations. That would be all that the event needed – one of their Wildfire Whiz-bangs going off would not be good. Although from what Ginny had told Hermione there were some fireworks linked to the Quidditch display.

"I'll meet up with you guys in a minute, okay?" Harry asked. "I'm going to go and find Andromeda and Teddy. He's probably forgotten who I am!" Ron watched as his friend melded with the crowd and only a few moments later, Arthur Weasley emerged and approached them all.

"Boys," he greeted. "Fleur, you look lovely. I hope you're not feeling too uncomfortable."

"I am fat and huge. My feet are killing me and now I have to stand around here on my sore feet." Despite her rant Fleur still looked radiant and Ron doubted that was simply down to her Veela DNA.

"Come on, honey, let's go and find you somewhere to sit. Even if I have to conjure you a chair."

"Don't ruin Hermione's chair arrangement!" Ron warningly shouted as his brother and sister-in-law walked off. He then turned to his father. "Where's mum?"

"She's around here somewhere," Arthur answered distracted by the growing commotion all around them. "Probably found someone to talk to about something important. Where is Hermione anyway, the Hall looks lovely?"

Ron took this moment to actually study the rapidly filling Great Hall. The tables had been removed and rows of chairs were in the front half of the room, all of them facing the stage. The stage and walls around the room were decorated in coloured banners belonging to all four houses. In the centre of the stage behind a podium, there was a large crest containing the four individual crests. It was a symbol of the unity which needed to exist in the magical community. He glanced up at the enchanted ceiling and thought that the sky seemed bluer than maybe it should be. The entire room had a warm, welcoming feeling towards it and there was a pleasant cinnamon-like smell. His fears concerning his speech vanished in the familiar Hall. "Yeah," he agreed, "she's done an amazing job. I haven't seen her yet. I reckon she's backstage worrying over some little detail. In fact, I'm gonna go see if I can find her, maybe help calm her."

"Good luck with your speech, son."

"Thanks, dad." With a smile and his father's pride, Ron headed off in the direction of the stage. As he neared a side door by the edge of the stage, he saw Neville and Harry approaching him along the front of the stage. He gave them a little nod as 'hello' and Neville smiled in reply. "Did you find Andromeda?"

Shaking his head, Harry said, "No, but I'm not sure what time she was planning on getting here. I haven't seen Teddy in so long and was hoping they'd be here early."

"She'll get here and you'll get some time with them, even if you have to sneak off under your cloak. You did bring it, right?" Ron grinned at his best friend, thinking back to all of the escapades they had shared underneath the cloak. There was no way that their combined heights would fit underneath it ever again. Ron wondered how hunched over Harry now had to be in order to hide.

"First rule of an Auror is to keep his tools at hand." Harry turned to Neville, already knowing Ron's thoughts on the subject. "Have you thought any more about Kingsley's offer of Auror training?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Neville quickly glanced around the room before answering. "I'm still not sure. Everyone keeps telling me that I did an amazing job of fighting last year and that I am a true Gryffindor, but I'm not sure about doing it all day every day."

"Just think about what you felt every time you fought back against the Carrows, when you stood up for others, you could fight for the good side every single day."

He shrugged again. "Gran wants me to take him up on the offer, but Luna keeps telling me that I have to follow my heart. Maybe I could be an Auror, but it doesn't mean that I should do. Before last year, I thought my future lay in Herbology."

"If that's what you want to do, what you have a passion for," Ron replied understanding completely that sometimes things did not happen how you had thought. Since as early as his fourth year, Ron had strongly considered becoming an Auror and it had not always just been because that was what Harry wanted to do. He had seen that life as exciting and worthwhile. Ron had never been destined for desk based Ministry work like his father or Percy and he was not skilled enough to work as a curse-breaker or dragon-tamer. From his year on the run and living mostly in random fields and forests, Ron knew that he could be an Auror, that he had the knowledge and skills, but something about spending the year fighting for his life had changed his mind. Every night he went to sleep thanking his lucky stars that he was safe in his bed and that Hermione was cuddled beside him also safe. He detested the nightly screams that she had and when that was coupled with the lack of desire to work in such a dangerous job, Ron had known he needed to find something else to do with his life. Originally Ron had only been helping his brother with the shop, but somewhere along the line everything had fallen into place. "How is Luna?"

"Same as always, I haven't seen her yet today. You?"

Ron shook his head. "No, she's probably out somewhere just wandering."

"Looking for Nargles or something," Harry added and the three young men all laughed until they were interrupted by somebody whom Ron and Harry could only assume was a first year.

"Ginny asked me to come find you and tell you that she needs to talk to you both in the common room," the young girl wearing a Ravenclaw school uniform said and began to walk away before any of the men could say anything. She had looked directly at Ron with a quick glance at Harry, possibly because she was not one-hundred per-cent sure who she was looking for.

"Why would Ginny send someone to come get us?" Harry asked, before adding, "And why a Ravenclaw?"

Ron shrugged. "I don't know, mate, but do you really want to risk upsetting her?"

"She's been a bit stressed over the display later on, maybe she just needs a pep talk and she doesn't want to be surrounded by all of these people," Neville explained and the other two nodded.

"Come on then," Harry said and after saying goodbye to Neville they hastily went to the common room which was once theirs. Luckily, Harry had been told the password by Neville earlier so they would have no problem in getting the Fat Lady to open the portrait hole. Before they could approach the portrait they both heard a noise from behind them and instantly in unison they turned. Harry drew his wand immediately whilst Ron was slightly calmer knowing that he was in Hogwarts and without the Auror training which seemed to have made Harry constantly prepared and alert.

"What the…?" Ron whispered as he reached for his own wand at the woman standing in front of them.

"Good morning, boys, I don't believe we were every formally introduced. I used to be known as Professor Carrow, you can call me Alecto."

HP – HP – HP

And now the time nears that I can have my revenge. The time in which I make my love proud. From the moment that she was taken from me, my life froze and time stood still. Life became simply going through the motions. My lungs continued to breathe and my heart never stopped its beating, but life was frozen and I don't remember anything. My friends took me under their wing, ensuring that I ate and drank whilst I wished for my existence to end.

Tonight my existence will end because the time has come and with my death comes my revenge.