This is chapter is for SkyZorander – thanks for the A-MAZE-ING compliments – & DrummerBoy4life – thanks for the "money"! And for everyone who, like me, loves that dark crazy lady :D

The rest of the Christmas holidays for Ron could have not been worse.

Everyone in the house knew.

They all knew who his parents were.

They knew that Voldermort was his dad.

Harry became even more aloof from Ron; their friendship was so far from repaired that Ron wondered if it could ever be fixed again. While Harry was this distant, Ron gave up trying; he liked to think of it as Harry's loss, not his. His "family", like Harry, pushed Ron away and out, but strangely the Twins stayed by his side, they were the only ones to act normal around him. However, they left after the New Year came and Ron was left surrounded by people that disliked, even hated, him. He owled Percy and told him the truth and like the Twins, he too did not seem to care; he just seemed worried about it and was happy that Ron's grades had improved, he was getting on well with Umbridge and that he wasn't friends with Harry Potter anymore. Bill and Charlie tried to stay with Ron but found it hard to talk to him and even more than before, became awkward around him. Ginny followed Harry's actions and him like a stupid sidekick; she went everywhere with him, always agreeing with him. Arthur would sometimes give Ron a small smile but otherwise, Ron was nothing more to him; he had never really accepted Ron as his real son and it had never really felt like Ron was his son to him – yes, he had liked the boy and been fond of him but being fond of someone is miles away from feeling like they are your own flesh and blood, your son. Molly tried too hard to keep things normal and in her desperate efforts, she lost Ron little by little.

Ron was no longer a Weasley.

He was a Riddle.

Hermione, being Hermione, stuck fast to Ron. She didn't follow him around as much and allowed her watchful eye to relax a little but she was still Ron's faithful, if bossy, guard dog; barking or growling at anyone who seemed to threaten him or cause him harm, which was quite often.

School was soon back and it was made clear to everyone that they would not say a word about who Ron was or even hint at it; if it got out, it would spell disaster for everyone involved. They all still believed that his real parents were in the dark and maybe, wouldn't ever have to find out if they were careful enough.

'Hello Ronald.'

'Oh, hey Luna,' Ron smiled as Luna came and sat next to him; another DA meeting was on and Ron had taken the option of sitting by the Lake. The many members of the DA began to wonder as to why Ron was no longer allowed, they guessed it had something to do with the Crucio curse but that wouldn't make Harry hate Ron, if Hermione was fine with him; there had to be something more to it and that something had to be something very serious and probably very dangerous.

'How are you?'

'Fine, you?'

'I am very well, thank you but you are not fine. I can tell that. What is wrong, Ronald?' Ron sighed.

'They know.'

'Who?'

'Harry, the rest of my family and others.'

'The Order?'

'Err, yes-,'

'That's good. Have you seen any-?' Ron didn't know what the thing was that he had meant to have seen and he was going to bother trying to understand or pronounce it. He shook his head.

'Luna, how do you know about the Order?' She just smiled and skipped off, probably in search of those things. She never seemed to have any cares about anything or anyone; Luna was content and Ron wished he could have a whisper of her happiness.

Ron stood for a few minutes in a sad silence; maybe there was no point on continuing?

''Ello Ron,' called a gruff voice behind Ron, pulling him from his frantic thoughts. ''Tis freezing out 'ere, yer'll catch yer death!' He chuckled; Ron couldn't see what there was to laugh about. 'What's wrong?' Like Luna, Hagrid sensed that there was something very wrong with Ron, but only one of the two had actually known.

'Don't you know?' Ron's voice was bitter and harsh; he shot evils at the half-giant. Hagrid, like many British people, knew that there was only one thing to sort out Ron's unknown problem and mood.

'Come to me hut, I'll get you an 'ice cuppa.'

Ron was quickly shuffled to Hagrid's hut and had a huge tank of steaming hot tea put in front of him.

'Now, what is it?' Ron had been rather reluctant to tell people in the past, but there was something about Hagrid that just made you want to tell him so that's what Ron did.

'No!' Ron gave a harsh laugh and nodded. 'Yer poor boy! 'Ave some more,' Ron had only had a little bit but Hagrid filled it right up to the brim; tea's good.

Ron continued to tell Hagrid what he thought of it all and how he really couldn't see the point of going on, to which Hagrid protested violently, nearly spilling his tea.

'What can I do then?'

''Ave some more tea. 'Arry will soon see round, he's yer best friend 'n' yer've got 'Ermione 'n' loads more! It'll all be fine!' But as Ron left the hut – after another tank of tea – he really couldn't see how it could ever be fine.

Months picked up and Ron became more distant from everyone. Even Hermione had begun to neglect her protection of Ron; something was happening with Harry and she was caught up in him. The Twins wrote to him, still telling him to join them and so many times he nearly wrote back saying that he would but he never had the strength to; he just couldn't imagine leaving Hogwarts. Luna, like always, would randomly talk to Ron but she was just a drifting will-o'-the-wisp, floating wherever the wind took her. Her conversations were quite mad and zany; you couldn't really class them as "conversations". Lavender and her crew became interested in Ron for a period of time; they just wanted to know what he had done that was so bad – minus hitting Hermione with a Curio curse. To their despair, they got nothing of interest, but Lavender started to enjoy Ron's company; she didn't want to just find about what it was anymore, she wanted to find out about Ron.

'Oh, hello Hermione, it's nice of you to remember that I'm alive,' Ron gave her a small sneer as she sat down at his table in the library. He'd chosen one in the darkest corner where the fading lights weakly protested at the darkness. 'What do you want?'

'Ron? I'm your friend and it hasn't been that long since we last spoke,' she began to lay her books out.

'It was the start of February. It's the start of June.' Hermione just gave a small 'oh'. 'And don't say you've been caught up in revising. The only thing you've been caught up in is Harry Potter.'

'No! Harry and I are just friends, there's nothing going on,' she swept a strand of straying hair from her blushing face. 'Anyway, I'm here now,' on that note, she sat down.

Ron stood up.

'You're leaving?' But her question was soon answered.

'Ronnie!' A high pitched, girly voice broke the stuffy silence. Ron was attacked by a blonde bomb.

'Lavender Brown?' Said Hermione in disbelieving shock staring at the embrace; Ron was hers.

'It's so good to see you again,' Ron gave her a light peck on the cheek.

'We saw each other a few hours ago,' laughed Ron; the sparkle back in his eyes.

'Hello Hermione,' Lavender gave Hermione the same frosty reception Ron had. 'Why don't you go off and shag Harry or something? Me and Ron have business to attend to,' she spoke to Hermione like she was a five year old child, Lavender's smile was fake and pretty nasty. She'd heard from Ron about Hermione leaving him and in her mind that made Hermione worse that someone wearing socks and sandals.

Hermione gave a look of disbelief at the pair, who had both sat down next to each other and were completely blanking her. With tears in her eyes, she left.

O.W.L.S started and went reasonably well for Ron, except from when Harry went all look-at-me-aren't-I-just-the-most-amazing-thing-you've-ever-seen-just-look-at-me in the DADA practical exam. That was the worst exam for Ron, now DADA just wouldn't click in his head, he just couldn't do it anymore, but his potions went amazing well and he received a small smile from Snape at the end of it.

Friendship wise, things improved a bit. Lavender replaced Hermione, Neville began talking to him again, Luna would talk normally (sometimes) and both Seamus and Dean would laugh and joke with him; they saw nothing wrong with him. And all the things Harry had said about Ron weren't true; Ron was still Ron.

Everything good stopped during the Charms theory exam.

'Bloody hell, what an attention seeking git,' thought Ron, as Harry collapsed. Harry was soon carried off and the exam finished without another interruption. Ron saw a brown bush push past him and gave he gave a glare as it rushed off.

'How was it for you?' Lavender slipped her arm through his and Ron was pulled from his thoughts.

Ron was making his way back from the library when he saw a strange sight. Neville, Luna, Hermione and Ginny were being dragged off by Slytherins. Ron had to follow.

Sticking to the shadows he followed them and when they arrived at Umbridge's office, he stuck his ear to the door. He couldn't hear the precise details but it turned out that Umbridge thought that the DA were making Dumbledore a weapon and Hermione said she would show it to her, with cat-like instincts Ron jumped away from the door and into the darkness. Placing a concealing charm on himself, he pursued confused. He had no clue what was happening but something told him that it would all end worse than it had started. He smiled as Hermione led Umbridge straight into a trap; Umbridge was carried off by very angry centaurs. They raced back and so did he.

But they didn't have to get back to Umbridge's office because the others met them in the middle of a corridor; they'd overpowered their captors and wanted instructions from their leader. Apparently Sirius was in danger – Ron decided it was just Harry being an idiot and it was probably a trap, which would end with them all being killed. But he still followed, pulled by something supernatural. Luna had a great idea and soon they were all on thestrals, Ron went for a very nice, if inexperienced, unicorn he had helped, when he had been wondering the forest.

'Hi Spirit,' he received a nuzzle.

'Follow that wizard!' Beamed Ron; he'd always wanted to say that.

They flew and flew, Ron's bum went numb and he had no idea where they were heading for, but he still followed.

The group landed outside of a red telephone box, with Ron landing hidden a few metres away, he thanked Spirit and sent him on his way but the unicorn said he would wait until Ron returned. Ron glanced back the group to see them dismantling and when he turned back around, Spirit had disappeared. Ron soon recognised the telephone box as the visitor entrance to the MoM and wondered what the hell they were doing here.

They all went down together and Ron entered after.

'Hello and what is your name?' Said a mannered, female voice.

'Ron.'

'Your reason for visiting the Ministry today?'

'I'm a Nosey Parker,' said Ron with a small smile, knowing what would happen next. With a small pop, a badge appeared.

Ron, Nosey Parker.

'Which department to you require?'

'The last department asked for,' and with a whoosh, the lift shot down.

Ron got out of the lift and before he had a chance to see where he was, he heard a scream. He ran.

'Bloody hell,' he whispered as he saw that the group had been separated and Hermione was being dragged off by a death eater.

'Crucio!' Ron roared and with perfect aim, the death eater hit the ground screaming.

'Hi Hermione, fancy seeing you here.'